Ethiopian Airlines Group, the largest airline group in Africa and Boeing Company have signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to position Ethiopian as the largest aviation hub on the continent.
The two companies have a relationship of more than 70 years and the objective of the MoU is to strengthen all of Ethiopian Airlines’ services in terms of pilot training, MRO services, logistics and cargo services, among others.
The two companies will establish a beneficial and lucrative aviation partnership, which will consist of four areas of collaboration: industrial development, advanced aviation training, educational partnership, and leadership development over a three-year interval. Teams are already working to join the strategic alliance.
Ethiopian Airlines and Boeing have worked on multiple projects for decades. The airline was the first operator in Africa of the Boeing 767, was one of the first launch customers and third operator of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, in addition to being the first on the continent to have a flight simulator of this model.
With this MoU, Ethiopian will consolidate the objective of its Vision 2025 plan to position Ethiopia as the continent’s aviation hub, a market in which it is already well ahead in terms of both traffic and profitability.
Both companies will develop key plans to compete globally, projecting Ethiopian Aviation Academy to become one of the most recognized aviation training centers in the world.
Ethiopian Airlines’ Boeing aircraft fleet
- 10 Boeing 737-700 Next Generation
- 18 Boeing 737-800 Next Generation
- 4 Boeing 737 MAX 8 (27 outstanding orders)
- 3 Boeing 767-300ER (soon to be converted to freighters)
- 6 Boeing 777-200LR (First African operator of this model)
- 4 Boeing 777-300ER
- 19 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner (First operator in Africa and Third in the world)
- 8 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner (2 orders pending)
- 3 Boeing 737-800F (1 order pending)
- 9 Boeing 777F
Ethiopian Airlines is the largest operator of Boeing aircraft on the entire African continent, and prior to the pandemic was studying the purchase of the Boeing 777-8 to increase its ultra-long haul destinations and expand its network to regions such as Australia and more cities in North America.
