Ethiopian Airlines has just placed an aircraft order, which is the biggest single Boeing order ever from an African airline. On top of that, as I covered in a separate post, Ethiopian Airlines is introducing new Boeing 787 interiors, and is also ordering some Airbus jets.
Continue reading: Ethiopian Airlines Orders More Boeing 787s, 737 MAXs
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
A few comments :
* ET also has a fleet of 30+ Dash 8-Q400s in service (their single largest type)
* ET doesn't have 9 737-700 and 17 737-800s as you have stated. There are currently just 3 737-700s and 7 737-800s in the passenger fleet - the remaining airframes are either with the subsidiaries (ASKY, Zambian, Malawi Airlines, etc..) or freighters.
* ET is supposed to take 3 more 737-8Max airframes by the end of 2023 (ET-BAI/BAL/BAN) taking that fleet up to 16.
* ET crews have full common type rating between the 777/787 so the same crew can fly the 777-200LR, 777-300ER, 787-8 and 787-9 interchangeably. This is partly why you tend to see a lot of last minute aircraft swaps between these types.
Finally, buried in the press release is the comment that Boeing will partner with Ethiopian for the refurbishment of their existing 787 fleet with new Business Class seats from Boeing JV partner Adient Aerospace (presumably their Ascent suite). This will begin with the older GE powered 787-8s that currently have the angled-flat Zodiac Aura Lite seats, and will be the 7th longhaul business class product that ET is operating. More interesting is that the Ascent seat is also certified for the 737 Max. ET has been pondering using the Max on some "third bank" routes into Europe and the major product dilution between wide and narrow bodies has been a reason they have been reluctant to do so. This is a possible way for them to get into this with a subfleet of Max.
@Sean M. Thank you for your great insight (as always). Do you think that by November of 2024 some of the 787s would have the new business class seats?
I am kind of surprised on teh 737-MAX order. After the 737-MAX accident, I expected ET to veer towards the A320 - A321 series.
They are supposed to go into refit starting this month. I think we can reliably expect this to start no later than January, assuming supply chain is solid.
great, thank you. I have been contemplating of booking a trip with them but I am concerned about the angle flat seats which they have on their US flights. Hopefully they will have the new seats by the time I travel
Same, though not so much based on the incident, but rather the way that Boeing tried (and failed) to completely throw ET under the bus... figured they were creating a new Airbus-for-life customer.
But it just goes to show: corporations aren't emotionally driven, and money/availability talk louder than anything.
Shorter blog post for you
Ethiopian and Boeing: we killed some folks and hoped you’d forget!
The Max has superior performance from altitude at Addis Ababa. They will extract their pound of flesh from Boeing for sins past, but they aren't going to cut off their own nose.
That said, I would expect a top-up order on A350s sometime soon as well. Mesfin has been very clear that the A350 (-900 and -1000) will be a critical component of ET's long haul services in the future.
Ethiopian is doing an excellent job. I fly them all the time. I hope they had stayed Boeing only.
Their business class offering is definitely in need of an upgrade and consistency too. They literally have like four different biz class seats.