Ethiopian Airlines to launch flights to Lyon, France, via Geneva, Switzerland

Ethiopian Airlines has announced that it will launch flights from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport (ADD) to Lyon Airport (LYS) via Geneva Airport (GVA). The service will be operated three times per week, complementing the airline’s flights to Manchester Airport (MAN) via GVA.

On January 6, 2026, Ethiopian Airlines announced that starting July 2, it will begin flights from ADD to LYS via GVA, with the three weekly flights departing the Ethiopian capital on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. 

The flights will be operated with Airbus A350-900s, with the ADD-GVA-LYS itinerary complementing the carrier’s current French network that also includes daily flights to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) and four weekly departures to Marseille Provence Airport (MRS).

Mesfin Tasew, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ethiopian Airlines, highlighted that France “has long been a key market for” the airline, “and with over five decades of connecting the country to Africa and beyond, we remain committed to strengthening our services to/from France and the region, facilitating trade, tourism, and people to people ties.”

“Beyond enhancing connectivity, this new route provides our passengers with seamless access to destinations across our worldwide network, reaffirming our commitment to offering reliable, convenient, and high-quality travel experiences.”

Ethiopian Airlines’ booking engine showed that the flight from ADD to LYS via GVA has a total travel time, not flight time, of nine hours and five minutes, with the carrier stopping at GVA for an hour.

The airline scheduled flight ET 738 to depart ADD at 00:10 local time (UTC +3), land at GVA at 06:30 local time (UTC +2), and take off toward LYS at 07:30, with a scheduled landing time at the French airport of 08:15 local time (UTC +2).

On the return itinerary to ADD, flight ET 739 is planned to depart LYS at 19:20, land at GVA at 20:05, leave the Swiss airport at 21:05, and touch down at ADD at 04:55 the next day.

Currently, flight ET 738 and flight ET 739 are direct itineraries to GVA.

This is Ethiopian Airlines’ second one-stop flight via the Swiss airport, with the carrier also having four weekly flights from ADD to MAN via GVA. Interestingly, while the flight to LYS is scheduled to operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, Cirium’s Diio Mi showed that in July, the one-stop to MAN goes via GVA on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.

On the remaining days of the week, the ADD to MAN itinerary is routed via MRS.

Ethiopian Airlines also has several other one-stop routes to Europe, which include flights from ADD to Copenhagen Airport (CPH), via Vienna Airport (VIE), the aforementioned one-stops to MAN, and other routes, all of which are displayed below. The map does not include the carrier’s direct flights to the continent.

One of the main constraints of flying out of ADD – and one of the reasons why Ethiopia is looking to build a new airport, Bishoftu International Airport (BIA) – is that ADD’s mean sea level (MSL) elevation is 7,655 feet (2,333 meters), limiting aircraft range and/or payload.

According to an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) report for BIA, prepared by ETG Designers and Consultants, high elevations “impose unique challenges for aviation, such as requiring longer runways and faster take-off speeds,” also limiting “the carrying capacity of larger aircraft during take-off, affecting operational efficiency,” which is the case for Ethiopia’s current main gateway.

The report outlined that the site for BIA had an altitude of 1,910 m (6,266 ft), striking “a good balance for aircraft operational efficiency and range, comfortably permitting long-range flights.”

In addition to altitude-related restrictions, ADD is “limited in capacity and struggles to meet the growing demand for air travel,” the report concluded.

On November 25, 2025, Ethiopian Airlines said that the country was taking a “bold step towards reshaping Africa’s aviation landscape with the development of [BIA], a flagship greenfield project envisioned as a continental aviation hub set to serve Ethiopia and the broader African region.”

According to Tasew’s statement at the time, the new airport will position the country “to become the aviation capital of Africa, serving as a major gateway connecting the continent to the world.”

Tasew urged potential investors across the world to join Ethiopian Airlines in the project to develop BIA.