This is one of the world's shortest flights: from Zurich to Milan on Ethiopian Airlines' A350

Have you ever heard of the fifth freedom flights, Fifth Freedom For those who chew English?

Here at TFC we have talked about it often, and there are also several videos on the YouTube channel, such as the flight of Singapore Airlines from Milan to Barcelona, that of Emirates from Malpensa to New York, or that of KLM from Manila to Kuala Lumpur. And, of course, it could not miss the most famous of them all: Hong Kong-Bangkok with Emirates, the world's most coveted fifth-freedom tract.

There are so many such routes around the world, and many also pass through our country, mainly from Malpensa. I, for example, just flew with Ethiopian Airlines by Zurich to Milan aboard a A350.

The world's shortest flights on a widebody

So much for eliminating flights under two hours: here we are talking about about 200 km away. Normally this route is operated with small A220 or, at most, with some Embraer. But then there is a company that makes this connection with the Airbus flagship: the A350.

This is not an isolated case either. For example, with Emirates I had flown with Marika in First Class from Dubai to Muscat aboard a 777-300ER, and there was also a time when this same route was even covered with a A380.

I, also, have flown several times between Madrid and Barcelona, or vice versa, aboard a 787 by Air Europa. But there we are on just under 500 km; in the case of ET flight, however, we are just over 200 km.

The exact opposite of the world's longest flights, such as the Singapore-New York, where they pass 18 hours aboard an A350.

Why Ethiopian flies from Zurich to Milan.

Routes Fifth Freedom allow carriers to "stretch" a flight by making a pit stop at an intermediate stop and, if there are rights, to Embarking and disembarking passengers also in the intermediate route.

The reason for this is purely commercial: it allows you to offer one more link, expand the network, and, of course, the potential revenue on the front should not be forgotten either. cargo.

What ET offers on this flight

We have been in the air 33 minutes And we didn't even reach the cruising altitude.

I would have liked to take a tour of the cabin, but the lights were not even turned on after takeoff. Since it was a night flight, as soon as the seatbelt sign went off, it pretty much immediately came back on.

Just as on board the flight Papeete-Moorea, again the crew took a very quick tour of the corridors and immediately returned to their seats for landing.

It was not even offered a glass of water, the in-flight entertainment system was not activated, and even if I wanted to, I could have bought the Wi-Fi, but I would not have had material time to use it.

Price and miles

Obviously this was not a flight made to accumulate miles and, ça va sans dire, it was a paid ticket. I needed to come back after the Lufthansa birthday flight, and this had seemed to me to be the definitely most attractive solution for the channel.

I spent 180 euro. The same itinerary with Swiss would have cost me slightly less. Of course, I could have taken the train to Milan, but I had the car at Malpensa and, in that case, I would not have had this story to tell.

Ah, I chose to credit the flight to the card. Miles&Smiles of Turkish, giving up 20 Points and a few miles elsewhere, getting the beauty of 33 Miles&Smiles.

Ethiopian's A350

This machine is set up in two classes: business and economy.

The business has a little bit of a configuration agée, with layout 2-2-2. The same one found on many other companies, such as. LOT Polish o Royal Jordanian, and it is also the same chair used by La Compagnie on his A321 employed to fly from MXP to JFK.

The rest of the aircraft is configured in economy, with the classic arrangement 3-3-3.

Legroom is average. L'IFE I could hardly test it because it was enabled when we were already landing.

Instead, the standard equipment was in place: pillow and cover.

Therefore, I cannot say anything about the service, the catering and the comfort of the seat; I saw no one, chatted with no one and could not even recline the seat. The flight from Zurich had very few passengers, but the thing that made me smile is that 13 of us landed at Malpensa, a sign that I am not the only crazy person who takes these flights.

In conclusion

It was a pleasant experience, not least because it allowed me to check out Zurich's non-Schengen lounges, including the Senator Lounge at Swiss And not only that.

Upon arrival at Malpensa then there was no one at immigration and this was a beautiful icing on the cake of this experience.