Ethiopian Airlines

Categories: Airlines of Ethiopia

Ethiopian Airlines is the national airline of Ethiopia. The airline is based out of Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa. It operates scheduled international services to 44 destinations world-wide and has an extensive domestic network. It also undertakes passenger and cargo charter flights.

Contents 1 Code Data 2 History 3 Services 4 Incidents and Accidents 5 Fleet 6 Notes 7 External Links

Code Data

• IATA Code: ET
• ICAO Code: ETH
• Callsign: Ethiopian

History

Ethiopian Airlines was founded on December 30, 1945 with assistance from TWA. It commenced operations on April 8, 1946 with a weekly service between Addis Ababa and Cairo, the initial fleet consisted of five Douglas DC-3 propeller-driven aircraft in which passengers sat in the folding canvas seats along the sides of the fuselage.

Although it relied on American pilots and technicians at the beginning, by its 25th anniversary in 1971, Ethiopian Airlines was managed and fully staffed by Ethiopian personnel. It has been described by Paul B. Henze as "one of the most reliable and profitable airlines in the Third World",¹ noting that the airline was featured by The Economist as an example of excellence. ² In 1998 it started transatlantic services.

In 2002, the airline carried 1,054,687 passengers. It employed 4,539 staff in January 2005.

Services

Ethiopian Airlines operates the following services (at January 2005):

• Domestic scheduled destinations (destinations with paved runways in bold): Addis Ababa, Arba Minch, Asosa, Axum, Bahir Dar, Beica, Dembidolo, Dessie, Dire Dawa, Gambela, Gode, Gondar, Gore, Inda Selassie, Jijiga, Jimma, Jinka, Kabri Dar, Lalibela, Mekane Selam, Mek'ele, Mizan Teferi, Shilavo and Tippi.

• International scheduled destinations: Abidjan, Accra, Amsterdam, Bamako, Bangkok, Beijing, Beirut, Brazzaville, Bujumbura, Cairo, Dar Es Salaam, Delhi, Djibouti, Douala, Dubai, Entebbe/Kampala, Frankfurt, Guangzhou, Harare, Hargeisa, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Johannesburg, Khartoum, Kigali, Kilimanjaro, Kinshasa, Lagos, Lilongwe, Lome, London, Luanda, Lusaka, Mumbai, Nairobi, Ndjamena, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, Tel Aviv and Washington, D.C.

Incidents and Accidents

Since 1970, there have been two fatal events involving Ethiopian Airlines aircraft.

On 15 September, 1988 an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 taking off from Bahir Dar, Ethiopia ingested numerous pigeons into both engines. One engine lost thrust almost immediately and the second lost thrust during the emergency return to the airport. As a result of the crash landing, 31 of the 105 passengers were killed.

On 23 November, 1996, three hijackers commandeered a Boeing 767 on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961. The flight was on its first leg, on a Addis Ababa, Ethiopia-Nairobi, Kenya-Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo-Lagos, Nigeria-Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire route. The hijackers were instructing the pilot to fly to Australia. Flying south along the African coast, fuel reserves ran out and one of the plane's engines stopped. While attempting a landing near Moroni in the Comoros Islands the aircraft ran completely out of fuel and ditched into waters 500m from shore. 123 of the 175 passengers and crew aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 died. All of the hijackers are presumed dead.

Fleet

The Ethiopian Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft (at October 2005):

• 1 Boeing 737-200
• 5 Boeing 737-700
• 5 Boeing 757-200
• 1 Boeing 767-200
• 6 Boeing 767-300
• 5 Fokker 50
• 3 DHC-6 Twin Otter Series 300

In February 2005 Ethiopian Airlines signed a preliminary agreement to buy up to 10 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft (5 firm orders and 5 options). On 31 May 2005 Boeing announced that Ethiopian had exercised its purchase rights and confirmed a firm order for 10 aircraft. Although the $1.6 billion contract has been completed it is still subject to final documentation for US Ex-Im Bank guarantees and will not be added to the Boeing order book until formalities are completed. The first aircraft is scheduled for delivery in 2008 (ref: Air International, July 2005).

Ethiopian Cargo, the airline's cargo division, operates a single 757-200PF and two Lockheed L-100 freighters. ET Cargo also leases additional aircraft based on traffic requirements. Three of the current four passenger 757-200s are expected to be converted to freighter configuration over the coming years.

Notes

1. Paul B. Henze, Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia, (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p. 246.
2. "In Search of Excellence, the Hard Way", The Economist, 31 December 1987.

External Links

• Ethiopian Airlines
• Ethiopian Airlines Boeing Fleet Detail
• Ethiopian Airlines Passenger Opinionsfr:Ethiopian Airlines

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