Ethiopian Airlines

When a widebody jet with a green-yellow-red tail touches down in Frankfurt, Vienna or Zurich, it is usually Ethiopian Airlines. Ethiopia’s state airline is one of the few African carriers you regularly get in front of your lens in central Europe – and it does so with one of the most modern long-haul fleets anywhere. This page shows you how to place Ethiopian, which types to expect and where a sighting is worth the trip.

Ethiopian Airlines at a glance

Ethiopian Airlines is Ethiopia’s state-owned airline, based at Addis Ababa Bole Airport. It was founded in December 1945 with support from the US airline TWA, and its first scheduled flight took off in April 1946 with a Douglas C-47 – on the route Addis Ababa–Asmara–Cairo. Today the company calls itself the largest airline group in Africa. Besides flight operations, the group includes a cargo arm, a large maintenance operation, its own aviation academy, catering, ground handling and an airport hotel.

The core of the business model is the Addis Ababa hub. The city sits conveniently between Europe, the Middle East, Asia and practically every region of Africa. Ethiopian collects passengers and cargo from its own network there and redistributes them – similar to Turkish Airlines in Istanbul or Emirates in Dubai, only with a much stronger focus on the African continent.

Its own figures show how much the airline has grown: in fiscal year 2023/24 Ethiopian carried around 17 million passengers. According to the airline, it reached its long-term “Vision 2025” strategy targets well ahead of schedule in many areas; planning now extends further, to 2035.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code ET: appears in the flight number, so on departure boards, tickets and in schedules – ET plus the flight number.
• ICAO code ETH: shows up in the air traffic control flight plan and on flight trackers.
• Callsign ETHIOPIAN: how the crew identifies itself on the radio.
• Registration ET-: Ethiopia’s nationality mark, followed by three letters.

It is rare for things to line up so neatly: at Ethiopian, the IATA code and the registration prefix match. That helps with quick sorting, but it does not replace a close look at the tail end. Especially with leased aircraft or planes from partner airlines, the registration is the reliable proof of which aircraft you really saw. You can find the basics in the guide Understanding aircraft registrations.

Star Alliance since 2011

On December 13, 2011, Ethiopian joined Star Alliance. Lufthansa acted as sponsor during the admission process. That made Ethiopian the third African member of the alliance after EgyptAir and South African Airways.

For you at the spot, this means: in Frankfurt or Vienna, Ethiopian lands among a crowd of Star Alliance partners. The aircraft carry the alliance logo discreetly on the fuselage. If you are interested in alliance special liveries, the overview of alliance liveries has the background.

The fleet: modern, large and mostly Boeing

The fleet is the reason Ethiopian has a good reputation among spotters. Hardly any airline on the continent flies so many new widebody jets. According to the fleet overview on Ethiopian’s corporate website (retrieved in October 2026), its own aircraft break down like this:

Type	Number	Use	Spotter note
Airbus A350-900	22	Long-haul	Most common widebody in Europe, 17 more on order
Airbus A350-1000	4	Long-haul	Africa’s first A350-1000, since 2024
Boeing 787-8	20	Long- and medium-haul	Shortest 787, first African 787 in 2012
Boeing 787-9	10	Long-haul	26 more on order
Boeing 777-300ER	6	Long-haul	Six-wheel main landing gear, rather rare in Europe
Boeing 777-200LR	6	Ultra-long-haul	First African operator
Boeing 737 MAX 8	23	Short- and medium-haul	44 more on order
Boeing 737-800 / 737-700	8	Short- and medium-haul	Older 737 generation, plus one Boeing Business Jet
Dash 8-400	28	Regional	Turboprop for domestic and regional routes
Boeing 777F	12	Cargo	Backbone of Ethiopian Cargo
Boeing 767-300F / 737-800SF	6	Cargo	Converted passenger aircraft

Leased aircraft come on top, which is why total numbers vary by source. The order list includes the Boeing 777-9 and new freighters of the 777-8F type. That makes Ethiopian one of the few African airlines that operates the latest widebody jets from both Airbus and Boeing.

A350 or 787? How to tell them apart

Because Ethiopian flies both modern long-haul families, this is the most exciting question at the fence. Same livery, similar size, both with a composite fuselage – yet there are clear features.

The serrated nacelles are often the quickest clue in backlight; the A350’s window mask, on the other hand, you can already see head-on on final approach. A detailed walkthrough with close-up photos is in the guide How to tell an A350 from a 787. And if a 777 does show up: the comparison How to tell a Boeing 777 from a 787 helps you place it – you recognize the 777 by its six-wheel main landing gear.

Within the A350 family you tell the A350-1000 apart by its greater length and by the main gear with six wheels per leg instead of four. On the 787, the -9 is visibly longer than the -8; when in doubt, the registration settles it.

How to recognize Ethiopian

The livery is easy to remember: a white fuselage with the “Ethiopian” titles and a tail in the national colors green, yellow and red. The name also appears in Amharic script – a detail worth catching in side-on shots. The Star Alliance logo sits discreetly on the fuselage.

Now and then individual aircraft wear special liveries. Such aircraft fly in the normal rotation, so you never know exactly whether a special one is heading to Europe. With sighting alerts for special liveries you keep an eye on these aircraft without checking every schedule yourself.

Ethiopian Cargo: the freight arm

A large part of Ethiopian’s importance lies in cargo. Ethiopian Cargo & Logistics Services flies its own freighters and is considered one of Africa’s most important cargo networks. Besides Addis Ababa, the division uses Liège Airport in Belgium as its European hub. Temperature-sensitive goods such as pharmaceuticals and fresh produce are part of the business too.

The backbone is the Boeing 777F, which Ethiopian ordered in 2011 as the first African airline and took delivery of from 2012. The cargo fleet is complemented by converted Boeing 767-300Fs and 737-800SFs. Interesting detail: at the maintenance center in Addis Ababa, former 767 passenger jets are converted into freighters together with Israel Aerospace Industries. New 777Fs and the next generation of freighters, the 777-8F, are on order as well.

African launch customer: the key milestones

Ethiopian has pioneered several aircraft types for the continent:

• 1946: First scheduled flight with a Douglas C-47 from Addis Ababa to Cairo.
• 2010: Arrival of the first Boeing 777-200LR – Ethiopian was the first African operator of this ultra-long-haul type.
• 2011: Joined Star Alliance.
• 2012: Delivery of the first Boeing 787 of any African operator and of its own first 777F.
• 2016: First Airbus A350 in Africa.
• 2019: Crash of flight ET302 with a Boeing 737 MAX 8; all 157 people on board die.
• 2024: First A350-1000 on the African continent.

The 2019 accident remains a deep turning point. The aircraft crashed on March 10 shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa on its way to Nairobi. Together with an earlier crash in Indonesia, it led to the worldwide grounding of the 737 MAX. Ethiopian has since returned the type to service and has ordered more aircraft.

The Ethiopian group in Africa

Ethiopian does not limit itself to its own hub. The airline holds stakes in several companies on the continent and thus builds additional hubs:

Airline	Country	Role
ASKY Airlines	Togo	West Africa network with a hub in Lomé
Malawi Airlines	Malawi	Strategic partnership since 2013, 49 percent
Zambia Airways	Zambia	Relaunch with Ethiopian as partner, 45 percent
Air Congo	DR Congo	49 percent stake

These airlines fly under their own names and with their own codes. You will hardly see them in Europe – but for spotters traveling in Africa, they are part of the Ethiopian universe. In the competition for connecting passengers on the continent, Ethiopian mainly faces Kenya Airways, EgyptAir and the big Gulf carriers.

The hub itself keeps growing, too: Ethiopia plans a new major airport near Bishoftu, just under 40 kilometers south of Addis Ababa. Until then, Bole remains the linchpin.

Spotting Ethiopian in Germany, Austria and Switzerland

In the German-speaking region, Ethiopian serves Frankfurt, Vienna and Zurich. All routes lead to Addis Ababa, usually with an A350 or 787.

• Frankfurt: At Frankfurt Airport, Ethiopian is one of many long-haul visitors. A good starting point is the Zeppelinheim viewing platform; everything else is in the Frankfurt spotting guide.
• Vienna: At Vienna Airport, the observation deck offers a comfortable view of the apron and runway; more spots are shown in the Vienna spotting guide.
• Zurich: At Zurich Airport, the Butzenbüel is worth a visit for approach shots; an overview is in the Zurich spotting guide.

Arrival and departure times change with the schedule, so check them shortly before your trip. When long-haul traffic typically arrives in Europe is explained in the guide to long-haul arrival times.

Common mix-ups

• Mistaking an A350 for a 787 – the black window mask and the engines without serrations give away the A350.
• Confusing the A350-900 and A350-1000 – the -1000 is longer and has six wheels per main gear leg.
• Equating Ethiopian with its partner airlines – ASKY, Malawi Airlines or Zambia Airways fly under their own brands.
• Assigning the national colors to another airline – green-yellow-red tails exist elsewhere, too; the titles and the ET registration make it clear.
• Logging a freighter as a passenger jet – the 777F has no cabin windows and only one door at front left instead of a row of doors along the fuselage.
• Taking ET for a country code in the flight number – here it happens to match Ethiopia, but IATA codes are always purely airline identifiers.

Conclusion

For spotters in central Europe, Ethiopian Airlines is the most accessible African airline: regular in Frankfurt, Vienna and Zurich, with a modern fleet and a livery you can recognize from far away. If you reliably tell the A350 and 787 apart, note the ET registration and occasionally make a detour to Liège for the freighters, you get a good cross-section of an airline that has shaped African air travel for decades.