Ethiopian Resumes 787 Flights Early

Christmas came early for Washington area plane spotters as Ethiopian flight 500 flew as a 787 from Addis Ababa to Washington via Rome, replacing the 777-200ER that had operated the route for more than four months. Previously, Ethiopian said they would resume 787 flights to Washington Dulles beginning May 17, but instead, on Tuesday of last week, they an announced the Dreamliner would be flying to Dulles starting the next day! Ethiopian will continue to connect Addis Ababa to Washington (via Rome) using their 787s until June 16, when they will switch the route back to 777-200ERs, with no word on when, if ever, the 787 will return to Dulles. But until then, Dulles is once again the only airport in the world to process daily flights by all three of the major new airplanes, the 787 Dreamliner, operated by Ethiopian, the 747-8 Intercontinental, operated by Lufthansa, and the A380 Whalebus, operated by Air France.