Ethiopian order with Boeing is biggest from an African airline
BOEING has announced that has received its biggest order of planes from an African airline after Ethiopian Airlines decided to purchase aircraft worth $2.1bn (£1.3bn).
Ethiopian Airlines will buy 20 Boeing 737 Max 8 planes, with the option to buy a further 15 of the single-aisle aircraft.
Ethiopian Airlines chief executive Tewolde Gebremariam said: “(The) order underlines our commitment to our 15-year strategic plan, ‘Vision 2025’, in which Ethiopian will strive to become the leading airline group in Africa, carrying 18 million passengers per annum.”
The Ethiopian flag-carrier, founded in 1945 and wholly owned by the Ethiopian government, currently flies to 83 destinations across five continents from its base at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.
Boeing also revealed that orders for its new 737 Max plane series, to be introduced from 2017, had reached a total of 2,294 so far from 47 customers around the world.