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UPDATE: Ethiopian Airlines indeed offers a currently 66% discount on domestic flights, if you're an Ethiopian resident, or if you fly into/out of Ethiopian with Ethiopian Airlines. When trying to book a domestic flight on the official website, you'll be asked if you satisfy one of the above conditions, and a discount will be applied automatically. This practice does seem a bit protectionist/monopolistic though, as the answer pointed out.

I am planning a trip to Ethiopia. It seems that to travel between Ethiopian cities, the easiest way is to take flights operated by Ethiopian Airlines.

Normally for trips in Europe/America etc., you would book flight tickets well in advance in order to have the best prices.

However, on the official website of Ethiopian Airlines, I was surprised to see that the ticket price seems to be exactly the same for planes departing tomorrow, as well as for planes departing five months later.

Dec 24 ticket

Jul 22 ticket

Also, the ticket prices don't seem exactly cheap. They're certainly much more expensive than many European flights.

Is this situation normal? Or is there some place where I can find cheaper tickets for future dates? This is something I've never seen with any other airline.

If the price is the same anyways, I might just as well buy them much later, in order to keep my schedule flexible.

xji
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1 Answers1

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Ethiopia was formerly a fully state-controlled, Marxist economy and despite slow liberalization, many sectors remain government controlled. This includes aviation, where Ethiopian Airlines has a de facto monopoly on domestic flights. Hence fares are both high and fixed: it's a legacy of state control and there's no competition.

That said, it may apparently be possible to score cheaper flights via travel agencies in Ethiopia, so it may be worth exploring other options. Bear in mind that Internet penetration in Ethiopia also remains low, so if your schedule is flexible, it might make sense to do this after arrival.

Incidentally, Ethiopia is not alone in this pricing scheme, I recall running into the same system in eg. Laos and a number of Central Asian countries as well. Often there's a dual pricing system that charges top dollar for foreigners and has subsidized pricing for locals, but I'm not sure if this is the case for Ethiopia as well. (Update: It appears this is indeed the case, with a 66% discount for residents & people traveling to/from Ethiopia on Ethiopian Airlines.)

lambshaanxy
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