Review of Ethiopian Airlines flight from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur in Economy

Introduction

Ok…..who would pay for $190 for a round trip between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur?
For any rationale traveler between this city-pair, absolutely not. Being one of the world's busiest air corridor, SIA, Scoot, Malaysia Airlines, Firefly, AirAsia, Batik Air, and Jetstar all have multiple flights a day—proof that in such a commoditized market, your ticket price and departure time often trump fancy bells and whistles.  With prizes sometimes fetching as low as $90, it's hard for anyone to justify my spending.

However, the brains of avgeeks often works differently than normal humans. Ah yes, trying to find the craziest way to travel between cities often means flying a 5th Freedom flight on airlines that are foreign to the region. In this case, I took Ethiopian Airline's 787 on this 50 minute short hop. Africa's largest airline flying an intra-ASEAN route, let's see how it goes.

About the Flight

ET638 is one of four 5th‑freedom flights Ethiopian operates in Asia, linking Addis Ababa–Singapore–Kuala Lumpur. Currently running at 4X weekly, a new 5th service will be added in July 2025.

Although scheduled for a 1+hour block (15:50–17:10 GMT+8), it rarely hits that—peaking at just 24,000 ft for three minutes and never cracking 430 KTAS in airspeed.

Other 5th Freedom flight oof ET in Asia:
BKK - HKG
BKK - CGK
ICN - NRT

Looking at their global network, ET really is the king when it comes to 5th freedom flights.

Pre‑Flight Experience

Ethiopian Airlines (ET), a star alliance carrier depart from the newly renovated Terminal 2 of Changi Airport, so as many of the member airlines of this alliance are. Check in opens 3 hours before at counter 12, the far end of the terminal opposite the MRT exit. I need not use it as I have checked in online. 

As for the airport experience. Simply perfect. It’s Changi airport after all. There are no queues in the immigration line and I was through in seconds. The automated identity inspection counter also made process swift.

The gate was E11, one of the further gates from the center transit area (10 minutes walk). Due to the light load , I was through security at gate in less than 10 minutes

The Aircraft

Registration: ET-AOT
Line number: 167
11 years old 
Powered by GenX-1B engines
24 Business Class (Cloud-Nine) | 246 Economy Class

Configured in 24 business class seats and 246 economy class seats in a 3-3-3 configuration. Quite a dense configuration for a full-service carrier. Business class was in a straight 2-2-2 layout.

For a plane that can fly 13500km and 228 metric tonnes, the 300km great circle distance range of the flight, the light fuel load compounded by light passenger load meant that the take off roll took less than 35 seconds. 

A rare breed of modern aviation - the 747-400F

Cabin & Seat

The seat layout was in a familiar 3-3-3 for a standard 787. - Pitch seems to be around the industry standard 31~32 inch dimensions. Great for short flight. Bearable for long haul flights. Seat has adjustable side wings, but not vertical adjustment. I was incredibly lucky to get all 3 seats to myself.

Right after boarding,  pillow and blanket are visible on the seat - a nice touch. However, - The seat cover is old and worn. Some parts sees visible damage and scratches. Furthermore, the cushion seems to have lost its rigidity as I sagged in once I sat down.

The cabin was sauna-warm upon boarding. Thankfully the aircraft was equipped with individual air vents. that really helped a lot. Otherwise Singapore's tropical weather would have cooked me alive in this carbon fiber tube.

On a plus-side, 787's cavernous interior does made the experience a lot nicer than your average A320s or 737s that are deployed along this route.

IFE & Technologies

Outdated is the word here…

IFE itself has decent content. However the slow response of the screen to both touch and remote made the user experience quite annoying. 

There was no wifi and universal power-outlet. Only USB-A port was available beside the screen.

To sum up, they really need a refurbishment on their technological hardware aspect of the experience. Their A350 seems to be very much up to date tho…

On‑Board Service

A cold chicken sandwich and a drink serving was offered. In my case, I chose passionfruit juice. It was really nice. Definitely a new experience over your generic orange, apple and tomato.

On the note of service, In my opinion, it is totally unnecessary for this flight. Considering an airtime of less than an hour, any services are bound to be rushed. On this flight, it was almost frantic as I see crews are already collecting trash before completing the distribution of drinks. Mind that the seat belt sign was only off for less than 15 minutes. Luckily this flight has a relatively low load factor. On that note, the busy aisle activity also meant I did not have time to visit the lavatory.

Closure

In conclusion, flying on ET638 is definitely more of a novelty experience rather than anything rationale. The short flight also meant that this is not a route to gauge soft product of any airlines - treat this as a commuting air corridor. However, it does give passenger a glimpse of an airline's hard product. - In ET’s 787-8 context, this is an average at best, if not outdated at worst. The relatively spacious seats and cabin might however be very enticing for traveler who wishes an afternoon departure, assuming that the price is lower. Otherwise, stick with budget airlines, buses or the soon to be completed electric train across the Johor causeway.