Plans by Ethiopian Airlines to launch nonstop Airbus A350 services between Ethiopia and Australia are gathering pace, signaling a significant deepening of ties between the Horn of Africa and the Great Barrier Reef nation. While a definitive start date and specific Australian gateway have not yet been publicly confirmed, the carrier’s fleet moves, leasing outreach and regulatory preparations point to a serious push to establish the first-ever direct air bridge between Africa’s fastest-growing aviation hub and Australia’s east Indian Ocean rim.

Africa’s Flagship Carrier Sets Its Sights on Australia

Ethiopian Airlines has long signaled that Australia is the last major continent missing from its own-metal long haul map. For years, Ethiopian-origin and wider African traffic to Australia has relied on one-stop connections via the Gulf, Southeast Asia and more recently Abu Dhabi, using partner airlines or interline agreements rather than a nonstop service from Addis Ababa.

That is beginning to change. In mid 2025, the airline’s regional manager for Asia Pacific, Telila Deressa Gutema, disclosed that “the groundwork has been laid” to commence operations to Australia, and issued an unusually public appeal to aircraft lessors and owners with available Airbus A350s or Boeing 787s. His message underlined that the missing piece is not demand or strategy, but aircraft capacity robust enough to support ultra long haul flying to the South Pacific region.

Behind the scenes, Ethiopian’s senior leadership has acknowledged that the launch has already been delayed by at least a year due to widebody shortages, and that the group needs several additional long range aircraft annually to keep pace with its broader global expansion. Yet the carrier has continued to highlight Australia as a priority as it works toward its Vision 2035 plan, which targets more than 200 destinations worldwide and tens of millions of annual passengers.

A350-1000 Deliveries Strengthen the Nonstop Case

Crucial to any nonstop venture between Addis Ababa and Australia is the arrival of next-generation long haul aircraft. In November 2024 Ethiopian became the first African airline to take delivery of the Airbus A350-1000, a stretched and higher-capacity variant of the A350 family. The aircraft, seating close to 400 passengers in the airline’s configuration, has the range to tackle the roughly 11,000 to 12,000 kilometer sectors required to reach Australia without a fuel stop.

The new A350-1000s join an existing fleet of A350-900s, with more aircraft of both types due for delivery in the coming years. This commonality simplifies training, maintenance and crew deployment, and allows the carrier to flex capacity between core transatlantic and Asian markets and prospective routes such as Australia. Ethiopian has also been evaluating future orders for additional A350-1000s and potentially the Boeing 777X, an indication that ultra long haul flying is central to its long term strategy.

For passengers, the A350 platform offers a step-change in cabin comfort, lower cabin altitude, larger windows and reduced noise, crucial advantages on flights that could approach 17 hours gate-to-gate depending on routing and prevailing winds. Ethiopian has already deployed the type on key premium-heavy routes to Washington, London and Frankfurt, and Australia would represent a logical next chapter for the airline’s flagship widebody.

Melbourne, Sydney or Perth: The Battle to Be Africa’s Gateway

While Ethiopian executives have not formally named the first Australian city to receive direct service, industry signals point most strongly toward Melbourne, with Brisbane and Perth also periodically mentioned as candidates. In 2025, Telila Deressa Gutema referenced a highly productive meeting with representatives of Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport, underscoring that multiple gateways are courting the airline as part of their own network development strategies.

The choice will balance several factors: existing African diaspora communities, student flows, trade ties, cargo demand and onward domestic connectivity across Australia. Melbourne offers a large Ethiopian and broader African community and strong links to universities that draw students from East and West Africa. Sydney, the country’s busiest international gateway, provides unmatched domestic and trans-Tasman connectivity, and would offer a marquee city pairing for Ethiopian’s global brand.

Perth, significantly closer to East Africa by great circle distance, presents operational advantages with shorter flight times and potentially lower fuel burn. Ethiopian already sells itineraries to Perth using partnerships and one-stop services via Asian hubs. A nonstop to Western Australia could form a natural stepping stone before the airline pushes further east toward Melbourne or Sydney with higher-capacity A350-1000 operations.

Even before a dedicated nonstop takes flight, Ethiopia and Australia are drawing closer through alliance-style cooperation. In 2025 Ethiopian Airlines and Etihad Airways entered a strategic joint venture that includes a broad codeshare agreement. Addis Ababa and Abu Dhabi are now linked by new flights in both directions, unlocking onward Etihad connections to Sydney, Melbourne and other Asia Pacific destinations for Ethiopian’s African customer base.

The partnership allows passengers to travel between dozens of African cities and Australia on one ticket with through check-in and coordinated baggage handling. Abu Dhabi effectively becomes a secondary hub for Ethiopian, extending the airline’s reach to markets that would be difficult to serve nonstop from Addis Ababa in the short term. Sydney is among the explicit beneficiaries of this arrangement, as Etihad rebuilds its Australian network after the pandemic and adds new long haul destinations of its own.

This layered strategy, combining codeshares with a gradual rollout of Ethiopian-operated aircraft on longer sectors, mirrors approaches used by Gulf carriers in their early expansion phases. It helps build market awareness and test demand patterns before committing scarce widebodies to the longest legs. When an Ethiopian A350 eventually crosses the Indian Ocean to Australia, it will be landing in a market where the brand and booking flows are already established through years of one-stop and joint venture services.

Tourism, Trade and the Promise of a New Corridor

A nonstop air link between Addis Ababa and Australia would hold implications well beyond simple flight times. For tourism officials on both sides, the prospect of a direct corridor between the Ethiopian Highlands and the Great Barrier Reef speaks to a new era of multi-continent itineraries and niche travel products. Tour operators envisage packages that combine wildlife and cultural circuits in East Africa with reef, rainforest and outback experiences in Queensland and beyond.

Australia’s universities and vocational colleges, which have seen rising interest from African students over the past decade, would gain a more efficient conduit for young travelers from Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and other markets connected through Ethiopian’s hub. Shorter travel times and reduced reliance on multiple carriers can make a material difference to families navigating visa processes, budgets and complex journeys across hemispheres.

On the trade side, Ethiopian’s cargo division could tap into growing flows of perishables, pharmaceuticals and time-sensitive goods. Addis Ababa has built itself into a major African logistics hub, including for temperature-controlled shipments. Direct bellyhold capacity to Australia would complement existing sea freight lanes and provide exporters and importers with a new option for high value goods and urgent consignments.

Regulatory Hurdles and Bilateral Diplomacy

Despite the optimism, significant work remains to turn plans into a published schedule. Ethiopian must secure regulatory approvals from both Ethiopian and Australian aviation authorities, including safety clearances, slots at increasingly congested airports and alignment with border control and biosecurity rules. Negotiations around traffic rights, frequencies and potential onward connections within Australia fall under broader air services agreements between the two nations.

Diplomatically, the new route dovetails with a gradual warming in Ethiopia Australia relations, as Canberra looks to diversify its partnerships in Africa and Addis Ababa seeks new markets for trade, education and investment. A nonstop A350 service would be a tangible symbol of that political and economic engagement, similar to how direct flights have underpinned Australia’s ties with the Gulf, India and northeast Asia over the past two decades.

Officials in both capitals also recognize that aviation links can support cooperation in areas such as climate science, agriculture and peacekeeping, where Australia and Ethiopia have overlapping interests. The choice of an efficient, lower-emission twinjet such as the A350 aligns with shared commitments to reduce the carbon intensity of long haul flying, even as traffic grows.

Competing Gateways and the Western Sydney Factor

Any Ethiopian move into the Australian market will unfold against a backdrop of heightened competition between local gateways. Traditional hubs in Sydney and Melbourne are being challenged by emerging infrastructure such as Western Sydney International Airport, which is due to open for passenger services in the second half of 2026. Airport management there has signaled a strong focus on attracting international airlines from day one, with several foreign carriers already expressing interest.

For airlines evaluating Australia network plans, Western Sydney represents both an opportunity and a strategic question. Its location places it closer to some of the fastest growing population centers in New South Wales, and its design as a next-generation digital aerodrome with advanced baggage and biometric systems is intended to reduce turnaround times and operating costs. For an African carrier like Ethiopian, a new, uncongested airport may offer more flexible slot options than the legacy Sydney gateway.

At the same time, passengers value seamless domestic connections, and incumbents at Sydney Kingsford Smith and Melbourne Airport can point to extensive links across Australia and New Zealand. Ethiopian’s route planners will weigh whether to prioritize access to established domestic networks through partnerships with Australian carriers, or leverage a new entrant airport’s incentives and operational efficiencies, possibly as part of a staged expansion that eventually covers multiple Australian cities.

What Travelers Can Expect in the Coming Years

For now, travelers between Ethiopia or wider Africa and Australia will continue to rely on one-stop options via the Gulf, Asia or Abu Dhabi, including joint services with partners such as Etihad. Current schedules show a variety of itineraries from Addis Ababa to Melbourne, Sydney and Perth using combinations of Ethiopian-operated sectors and connecting flights on other carriers. Flight times typically range from 18 to 22 hours including layovers, depending on the chosen routing.

The timeline for a true nonstop will hinge on how quickly Ethiopian can add A350-1000s and potentially additional 787s, and on the pace of regulatory clearances. Industry observers suggest that the second half of this decade is the earliest realistic window for sustained direct operations, particularly as Ethiopian also commits resources to its new mega-hub project at Bishoftu, which broke ground in January 2026 and is planned to open by 2030.

Once launched, a nonstop A350 route is likely to offer a competitive premium cabin pitched at business travelers, professionals in mining and resources, development and diplomacy, as well as a spacious economy section attuned to leisure travelers and students. Ancillary services such as through-check baggage to regional African destinations, tailored fare products for diaspora communities and coordinated schedules with Australian domestic partners could make the service a compelling alternative to existing one-stop competitors.

What is clear already is that Australia sits firmly on Ethiopian Airlines’ strategic horizon. Every new A350 delivery, leasing overture and bilateral discussion brings the two countries a little closer. When an Addis Ababa Australia sector finally appears in the airline’s booking engine as a nonstop, it will mark not just a new long haul route, but a fresh chapter in the evolving relationship between Africa’s leading hub carrier and the Great Barrier Reef nation at the other end of the Indian Ocean.