Ethiopian Airlines: The Wonderland Route to Kenya, c.1955

In the colonial era, when only Ethiopia was not under European control, Ethiopian Airlines flew its DC-6s on the "Wonderland Route" between Addis Ababa and Nairobi in the Kenya Colony. Also advertised are Aden, Djibouti, Egypt (presumably Cairo), Sudan (surely Khartoum), Eritrea (likely Asmara), Pakistan (possibly Karachi), Saudi Arabia and "East Africa." Shown on the cover of this brochure is an office block labeled "America House" which is presumably Ethiopian's office in pre-independence Nairobi. Exact date of the item is unknown.

Ethiopian Airlines Network, c.1972

Via this website, it is a colorful brochure espousing the wonders of the Hidden Empire, including this straightforward network map of the flag carrier. Ethiopian then reached 18 international destinations in Europe, Asia and spanning the African continent from Asmara to Abidjan and Dar Es Salaam to Douala.

The domestic map shows an enormous coverage within the diverse country, with more than 40 destinations from the Red Sea to the Blue Nile, most served at the time with DC-3 aircraft-- as the brochure states, the flagship B707s, shown in the above image on the apron at Addis Ababa Bole Airport, were reserved for the intercontinental services to Delhi and Rome.

Ethiopian Airlines: Systemwide Network, 1971

A bright red route map of an earlier Ethiopian Airlines, long before it had reached China or the United States, but when it was already a pioneer in African aviation.

On its home continent, Ethiopian stretched to Abidjan and Accra in the west, and only as far as Dar Es Salaam in the south. Sizable stations existed at Khartoum, Asmara, and, of course, Addis Ababa. Rome was linked with these three as the primary European destination, as it is today. Paris, Frankfurt and Athens were also within its web, the latter direct from Asmara or via Cairo.

Although Far Eastern points were beyond its reach at the time, the airline already served an array of Asian cities: Karachi, Delhi, and, interestingly, two cities in Yemen: Taiz and Aden. Only Delhi is still a destination, forty years later.