Hi, dear flight-report members and readers!
In this short FR I'd like to present a review of a rare aircraft - B777-200LR of Ethiopian Airlines on a short flight from Copenhagen (CPH) to Vienna (VIE).
Intro
Boeing 777-200LR, designed for ultra-long-range flights, is essentially a shrink of the most produced 777 version - the 300ER, sharing the same engines (usually slightly derated to 110 lbf from 115 lbf), wing, gear and MTOW. Being a very niche aircraft, it saw only 61 units delivered (the last one in 2021), thus making it the second-least produced 777 version. The least popular 777 - the old -300 (simple stretch of -200ER) saw 60 units delivered. Currently there are more 77Ls in passenger service than 773s: 39 vs 34. Due to newer-gen widebodies taking both ULH and mid-haul markets, lots of 77Ls and 773s were phased out and scrapped (77L is extremely valuable in parts which are common with 77W), but 773 (having almost zero value in parts) fades away faster.
There are just 8 remaining 77L passenger operators:
Air Canada: 6 units with 3-class layout C40_W24_Y236 (3-4-3 economy)
Air India: 5 units (former Delta birds) with 3-class layout C28_W48_Y212 (3-3-3 economy)
Emirates: 10 units with 2-class layout C38_Y264 (3-4-3 economy)
Ethiopian: 6 units (2010-built ET-ANN/ANO, 2011-built ET-ANP/ANQ/ANR, 2013-built ET-AQL) with 2-class layout C28_Y287 (3-3-3 economy)
Iraqi Airways: 1 unit with 2-class layout C14_Y350 (detailed LOPA unknown)
Pakistan Intl. Airlines: 2 units with 2-class layout C35_Y275 (3-3-3 economy)
Qatar Airways: 7 units with 2-class layout - 5 C42_Y230 (3-4-3 economy) plus 2 C42_Y234 (3-4-3 economy)
Turkmenistan Airlines: 2 units with 2-class layout C28_Y263 (3-3-3 economy)
As one can see, there is no 77Ls with first class (it's interesting that there do exist old 77E with first - in British Airways fleet) and the most interesting 77L layout is the Air India's one (inherited from Delta with Delta One business suites, premium economy and 3-3-3 economy).
There are also several 77Ls in governmental use, like 1 in Azerbaijan and 2 in Turkmenistan.
World's remaining 3-3-3 777 operators
It would be interesting to list 777 (all generations) operators that still retain spacious 3-3-3 layout in economy. This layout provides ample seatwidth: 18" to 18.5" and ample aislewidth and can be considered as one of the most generous (in terms of lateral space) economy layouts in the world, surpassed only by A380s and JAL's international 2-4-2 787s. Currently (September 2025) their number is still not insignificant: there are 24 airlines in the club, but based in Asia (mostly) and in Africa (a few, like ET) only. No Western airlines in this club at all.
1) Air China: 20 out of 28 77W (F8_C42_Y261).
2) Air India: 5 77L (C28_W48_Y212) plus 13 out of 19 77W (F4_C35_Y303).
3) Air Peace: 1 773 (C50_Y269).
4) All Nippon Airways: 3 out of 13 77W (F8_C68_W24_Y112) have rare 2-4-3 (also 9 abreast) economy layout (the seatwidth, though, is listed at 16.5", which is even less than in 3-4-3). Probably these birds are waiting for overhauling of the cabins and will get 3-4-3 economy.
5) Asiana: 9 77E (3 C22_Y278 and 6 C24_Y278); will be replaced by A359 during OZ integration into KE.
6) Biman Bangladesh: 4 77W (C35_Y384)
7) China Southern Airlines: 15 77W (13 C28_W28_Y305 plus 2 F4_C20_W28_Y305).
8) EgyptAir: 5 77W (C49_Y297).
9) Ethiopian Airlines: 6 77L (C28_Y287) plus 5 77W (4 C28_Y365 plus 1 C28_W28_Y305 - CZ ntu).
10) EVA Air: 23 out of 33 77W (12 C38_W64_Y221 plus 11 C39_W56_Y238); the older frames (C38_W64_Y221) will be replaced by A35K.
11) Garuda Indonesia: 8 77W (6 C26_Y367 plus 2 F8_C38_Y268, one of them leased to the government).
12) Japan Airlines: 11 77W (F8_C49_W40_Y147) - the world's most outstanding 777 layout (maximum spaciousness in all 4 classes). Will be replaced by A35K.
13) Korean Air: 24 out of 25 77W (14 F8_C42_Y227 plus 10 F8_C56_Y227) plus 4 773 (C41_Y297). 773s will be replaced by 78X.
14) Kuwait Airways: 10 77W (F8_C36_Y290). Spacious economy layout is spoiled by bad seats - Recaro CL3710.
15) Pakistan International Airlines: 3 out of 4 77W (C35_Y358) plus 2 77L (C35_Y275) plus 6 77E (C35_Y294).
17) Qatar Airways: 3 out of 57 77W (C37_W24_Y278 - former Virgin Australia Birds).
16) Philippine Airlines: 2 out of 10 77W (C26_Y367 - leased from Garuda Indonesia).
18) Rossiya Airlines: 4 773 (C18_Y355).
19) Saudia: 27 out of 35 77W (6 C12_Y393 plus 13 C30_Y351 plus 8 F12_C36_Y242).
20) Singapore Airlines: 22 77W (F4_C48_W28_Y184) - the world's second-most outstanding 777 layout (maximum spaciousness in all 4 classes).
21) TAAG: 5 77W (3 F12_C56_Y225 plus 2 F8_C53_Y228).
22) Thai Airways: 17 77W (14 C42_Y306 plus 3 F8_C40_Y255) plus 4 77E (C30_Y262). 77Es will be phased out; 77Ws will get 3-4-3 economy after future cabin overhaul.
23) Turkish Airlines: 33 out of 34 77W (30 C49_Y300 plus 3 C28_Y372). Aerolopa lists wrong seatwidth for C49_Y300 - it's 18.5" for older frames with Weber 5751 seats and 18.1" for newer frames with Safran Z300 seats. Older frames will get 3-4-3 economy after future cabin overhaul.
24) Turkmenistan Airlines: 2 77L (C28_Y263).
As one can see there are quite few (just 8) major airlines with significant (15+ units) 777 fleets in this club, all of them being Asian: Air China, China Southern, EVA Air, Korean Air, Saudia, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Turkish Airlines.
Ethiopian, the largest African airline, being in this club, has quite small 777 fleet, it's backbone is A350s and B787s.
Ethiopian' tag EU flights
The location of ADD hub not too far from Europe and existence of 2 sharp connection banks in ADD (late evening and morning) dictates specific schedule of ET's flights to EU when aircrafts would sit from early morning to the evening (12+ hours) in the destination in the case of terminator flights. For ET it's much more commercially viable to add tag intra-EU flights instead of long AOGs, despite short flights rapidly increase number of pressurization cycles for widebodies. Also using tag-ons ET beats curfews in some EU airports. Please note that these tag-on flights always depart from international gates (because most passengers continue to ADD), but you should be aware that your passport must not be stamped by border police, if you end in EU.
Flights ET724/725 ADD-VIE-CPH-VIE-ADD is one of the most clear examples of such tag-on flights. Usually it's operated by B789s, but sometimes by 77Ls. Last year (2024) 77Ls were used on these flights quite frequently and I decided not to miss this opportunity. For 65 EUR for CPH-VIE it was a deal. My date (19.06.2024) was just the 3rd one when ET724/725 was operated by 77L last year. This year there were just 3 dates in August when these flights were operated by 77L (also ET714/715 flights ADD-ARN-OSL-ARN-ADD got 77L several times in August).
Copenhagen Airport
ET flights to VIE and ADD always depart from international C-gates of Terminal 3. This concourse is quite compact and quiet. Sorry, no photo of the airport this time. CPH is very efficiently connected with the city by a short metro or train ride, but queues in security control can be whopping, so have enough time.
The Aircraft
My flight was operated by 2011-built ET-ANP. I managed to take good views when the aircraft was being towed from the stand to the gate. Gorgeous!

ET 77Ls are powered by GE90-115B engines with the same thrust rating as 77W engines (most 77Ls have slightly derated 110 lbf engines). The reason is the ADD's high altitude, when extra thrust is needed. But 77Ws and 77Ls are somewhat handicapped in high-altitude airports due to suboptimal wing area (the wing was inherited from the 1st gen 777s with addition of raked wingtips and reinforcements, whereas the best solution for 351-tonn MTOW should've been development of a new larger wing - this is what Boeing eventually decided to do for the 3rd generation - 777X - whose certification turned to the endless soap opera), which requires higher takeoff speed compared to A350 and B787, when centrifugal forces in the gear tyres come into play. For not exceeding critical tyre speed, the payload should be reduced. Delta tweaked its 77Ls (now in AI fleet) with reinforced tyres to be able to operate its legendary nonstop JNB-ATL flights with decent payload.

The Business Cabin
The business class cabin, located between 1L/R and 2L/R doors, consists of 28 Zodiac Aura Lite lie-flat seats in 2-3-2 layout (for example, Turkish Airlines use the same seats in the same layout in its B77Ws). Despite this layout is not cutting-edge without direct aisle access for window- and middle-seats, these seats have very ample footspace, much larger than typical modern business class seats in 1-2-1 layout. Moreover, the newest ET's B789s with 1-2-1 layout have 2 more business seats (30) than B77Ls! You have direct aisle access, but you get more crowded cabin and restricted footspace compared to the "dated and hated" 2-3-2 layout! If in B77L's business you don't have a neighbour, you'll feel like a king!




The Economy Cabin
The economy class consists of 2 cabins with 287 seats in 3-3-3 layout - the larger one between 2L/R and 3L/R doors…





… and the smaller one between 3L/R and 4L/R doors. The 2 last rows have duo seats due to fuselage tapering.








The Economy Seat
The seat model is good old Weber 5751 (no longer produced). It's very similar to the ones Korean Air have in its older B77Ws, but with simplier IFE. The seat width between armrests is 18.1", similar to KE seats. 777 cabin in 3-3-3 layout can accomodate up to 18.5" seatwidth (like in JAL B77Ws or older Turkish B77Ws), so 9x0.4" went to the aisle width. Anyway, it's a very spacious layout, excellent for long-haul flights, especially taking into account comfortable shape and ample padding of the Weber seat. My seat was 41L (now listed as 55L) and due to the beginning of the fuselage tapering row 41 has a little angle relative to the precedent row 40 (now 54) thus giving an extra legroom to the A/L seats. Please note that aerolopa is wrong about this row (it thinks that row 56 has these properties), so you should always take aerolopa's schemes with a grain of salt.

The seat has quite dated IFE (fortunately, no annoying underseat power box) with remote in the armrest (but smartly located - in contrast, for example, to the stupid Lufthansa B748 economy seat ergonomics - so you never incidentally touch the buttons), USB port, coat hanger, cup holder, tray table, seat pocket. Waiting on the seat are pillow and blanket.








The only downside of the seat is its quite worn condition, especially noticeable on the fabric upholstery. ET should take more care of the cabins of its older planes. Also needless to say that IFE screen is very slow due to its age and you'd better use the remote.
Inside the seat pocket are safety card, inflight magazine, duty-free magazine and primitive headset.




The Flight
Safety video is played and pushback begins on time.

Lightly loaded B77L takes off like a rocket.

Rear economy cabin in flight.

The lavatory is quite old school.



Despite the short length of the flight, there is snack service - a cake with drinks (wine was available, but I decided to go with non-alchohol). Compare to EU airlines (except, maybe, AF/KLM) that serve nothing but water on such flights.

The Northern Sea in the evening light.

Beautiful convection activity mid-flight.


As we're getting closer to Vienna…

…sun begins to set.



Danube river

Outskirts of Vienna

Sun is gone for this long June day…

Landing in VIE


A large decaying cumulonimbus in twilight.

A view of supemighty GE90-115B from front economy cabin while disembarking. A relatively small percent of the passengers disembarked in Vienna, the others continued to Addis-Ababa.

Thank you for your attention and see you in the next FRs!
Thanks for this report.
With exactly the same aircraft (ET-ANP), my report (in french) from Oslo to Stockholm.
https://flight-report.com/fr/report/64781/ethiopian-airlines-et715-oslo-osl-stockholm-arn/
Regards
Thanks for your reply, Greg!
ET-ANP is definitely a star here :)
Nice report as always! Cool to see a review on the ET 77L as there aren't many out there. The cabin has definitely seen better days but man that 3-3-3 layout just seems so luxurious these days! It's great that ET haven't gone 3-4-3 on the 77Ls of 77Ws despite basically everyone else doing it, even premium carriers. I assume at some point they'll update the cabins since they're over a decade old at this point but the frames are still young-ish...we'll see if they still with the 3-3-3. I hope so!
Thanks for sharing!