Ethiopian Airlines has pushed back the launch of its new service to Nacala in northern Mozambique, with the route now scheduled to begin on 27 October 2026 rather than the originally planned date of 16 July 2026.
According to the airline's latest schedule filing, the service will operate three times per week on a triangular routing that links the carrier's Addis Ababa hub with Blantyre in Malawi before continuing on to Nacala and returning to Addis Ababa.
The rotation is filed as flight ET875, departing Addis Ababa at 09:10 and arriving in Blantyre at 12:15. After a short turnaround, the aircraft leaves Blantyre at 13:15 and reaches Nacala at 14:20. The return leg departs Nacala at 15:35 and arrives back in Addis Ababa at 20:30.
Ethiopian has assigned a Boeing 737-800 to the route. The narrow-body twinjet is one of the most widely used aircraft in the airline's fleet for regional and medium-haul services across Africa, offering a mix of business and economy seating well suited to the multi-stop rotation.
Nacala, a deep-water port city on Mozambique's northern coast, adds another point to Ethiopian's already extensive pan-African network. By routing the flight through Blantyre, the airline is able to serve two markets on a single rotation — a common approach for Ethiopian on thinner regional routes where combining destinations helps support frequency and load.
The revised start date moves the launch from the middle of the northern summer season into the northern winter schedule. Airlines routinely adjust planned launch dates as commercial plans, aircraft availability and market conditions evolve, and a shift of this kind ahead of the first flight is not unusual.
Ethiopian Airlines, based at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, is among the largest carriers on the African continent by fleet size and network breadth, with a route map that spans domestic, regional and long-haul intercontinental services. Additions such as Nacala reflect the airline's continued focus on building connectivity within Africa alongside its intercontinental growth.
For travellers, the new three-times-weekly service is set to open when it debuts on 27 October 2026, subject to any further schedule changes the airline may file ahead of the launch.
Sources: AeroRoutes. Featured image: AI-generated by AviationShop. By Elena Vargas.
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