Ethiopian Airlines will suspend all passenger flights to Atlanta. Its last flight will be on February 2, with the long route from Addis Ababa scheduled to return on June 1. However, when writing, flights are not currently bookable on the carrier’s website beyond February 2. I’d not be surprised if the route ends up being cut entirely.

The suspension is for two primary reasons. First, because of the travel restrictions on many African countries imposed by Donald Trump. Second, because the route did poorly anyway, even before the restrictions, not least because of the lack of a codeshare agreement with Delta Air Lines.

Ethiopian To Atlanta

The Star Alliance member has had passenger service to Atlanta, the world’s busiest airport for passenger traffic, since May 2023. Flights currently run three times weekly. But when, and if, service resumes as scheduled in early June, it’ll operate four times weekly for the peak summer. Flights will then decrease again for some winter months. This pattern more or less reflects what was available last year.

Addis Ababa’s very high elevation reduces takeoff performance with a high payload. As such, Atlanta flights, like most of the carrier’s services to North America, stop to refuel and probably change crew in Rome Fiumicino. The new airport, once operational, should consign the stopover to the history books. As Addis’s elevation is not a factor for inbound flights, service from Atlanta is nonstop.

In 2026, the airline’s lowest-capacity widebody, the 246-seat Boeing 787-8, will be deployed to Georgia. This is no surprise. According to Cirium Diio data, the 787-8 has been scheduled 78% of the time since mid-2023. The 787-9 and, to a far lesser degree, the 777-200LR have also appeared.

Ethiopian’s Atlanta Passengers And Loads

According to US Department of Transportation data, Ethiopian carried 54,600 passengers to/from Atlanta in the 12 months to October 2025. It only filled 59% of the available seats, which is, of course, poor. It was particularly dragged down by February 2025 (50%), March 2025 (41%), and April 2025 (47%). No wonder the suspension includes those months.

The DOT shows the worst month was October 2025, when an unbelievable 38% of seats were filled. This was the worst month since the route’s commencement in mid-2023. It was down by nine percentage points compared to October 2024. While the available capacity remained the same year-over-year, traffic fell by 19%. Trump’s policies may have been a contributory factor.

Booking data for the 12 months to October 2025 shows where Ethiopian’s Atlanta passengers went. An estimated 55% of passengers connected to another flight in Addis Ababa; Atlanta to/from Nairobi, Lagos, Entebbe, Johannesburg, and Mekelle were the top five segments. Some 35% of travelers were point-to-point (Atlanta-Addis-Atlanta only), while the rest either connected to another flight in Atlanta or transferred to a different service in both Atlanta and Addis Ababa.

Ethiopian Has Also Made Big Changes To Newark Services

It is not just Atlanta that is affected. Ethiopian has also made substantial changes to its Newark operation. After January 26, the airline will no longer operate Addis-Rome-Newark-Addis. The original plan was to serve it three times weekly on the 787-8 and, at times, the 787-9. Ethiopian’s booking engine and schedule filing to Cirium show that all flights beyond the end of January have been removed.

But it will continue to serve Newark (and New York JFK). Its Newark flights run via Togo, flying Addis-Lomé-Newark-Lomé-Addis. The stopover in Togo means passengers can connect to cities in Western and Central Africa with close partner ASKY. Unsurprisingly, Anglophone places—overwhelmingly Accra and Lagos—are critical. To partly compensate for the lack of Newark-Rome-Addis-Newark, the route via Lomé will increase from three weekly to four weekly.