Frequently Asked Questions
From USA: There are quite a number of major airlines that fly to Addis Ababa via Europe. Major European airlines (e.g., KLM, Lufthansa, British Airline, and others) have direct flight to Addis Ababa from Europe. However, these flights arrive in Addis Ababa late in the evening, and there is no flight to Bahir Dar after 4:30pm. That means you are required to spend a night in Addis Ababa to catch your flight to Bahir Dar the next morning. However, if you take a direct flight to Addis Ababa from Washington Dulles airport, operated by Ethiopian airline (which you can get it through United Airline), you will arrive in Addis around 8:00AM in the morning and you DO NOT HAVE TO SPEND a night in Addis. This is a preferable itinerary. There are several flights to Bahir Dar from Addis every day.
From Europe: As I mentioned above there are quite a number of major European carriers fly to Addis Ababa, but all of them arrive late in the evening. You can certainly avoid spending a night in Addis if you take Ethiopian airline flight from Frankfurt or London which arrive early in the morning, around 6:00am.
From African countries: There are several airlines (like South African airline, Kenyan airway, etc) that fly to Addis Ababa from most of other African countries. Also Ethiopian airline has flight to/from most of African countries.
From Japan: Not sure about other major airlines that have flight between Japan and Addis Ababa. I do know Ethiopian airline fly to Tokyo, and it arrives in Addis in the morning and no need to spend a night to catch a flight to Bahir Dar.
From Other Asian countries: There are several airlines that connect this region to Addis Ababa, and most of them arrive in the morning.
From South America: There are quite a number of flights that fly from these countries to Addis through Europe. There is also a direct flight from Sao Paulo, Brazil to Addis Ababa by, again, Ethiopian airline.
Once you book your flight, please do not forget to send your arrival and departure information to Dr Melessew Nigussie melessewnigussie@yahoo.com so that he will arrange the local transport for you. If in case you are required to spend a night in Addis and need help to make your hotel reservation in Addis, please contact Melessew.
VISA Information: If you are holding passport from one of these countries (Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea Republic, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States), you can apply tourist visa at Bole International airport in Addis Ababa. A tourist visa fee on arrival at the airport is $20, and they accept cash in USD or Euro. If your country is not included in the list above, you need to get your visa from the nearest Ethiopian consulate/embassy; please note that the visa fee at the consulate might be different (more information about visa can be found http://www.ethioembassy.org.uk/consular_services/visa.htm). If you need an official invitation letter for your visa application or for something else, please contact Melessew at the email address shown above.