Ethiopan Airlines Plans Major Fleet Expansion

Ethiopian Airlines is planning to further upgrade its fleet by buying new aircraft from Airbus.

Ethiopian Airline is reportedly at the final stages of striking a $1.6 billion deal with European aerospace giant Airbus for the purchase of 20 of its narrow-body A220 jets. This is not the first time Africa’s largest air carrier is looking at purchasing the 100-seat Airbus A220s for its fleet. The airline was considering European jets last year, however, it eventually had decided to go with larger Boeing 737 family aircraft.

According to reports, Ethiopian Airlines is facing problems operating large Boeing 737 MAX on long haul flights, as it had to stop off at a second destination on flights from Addis Ababa to cities including Windhoek and Gaborone for refueling. Operating Airbus A220s will allow direct flights with no additional stops.

Ever since Boeing’s best-selling 737 MAX jets have been grounded after two deadly crashes earlier this year, Airbus’ profits have been growing exponentially, while Boeing posted its largest-ever quarterly loss in July, calculating the total cost of the 737 MAX crisis at over $8 billion.

Ethiopian Airlines suffered the loss of one of its Max jets in a deadly crash in March 2019, the second fatal incident involving the plane model after Indonesia’s Lion Air jet plunged into the Java sea, leading to a global grounding of the aircraft. The dual disasters rocked the aviation industry and developing into one of the worst crises for Boeing in its 103-year history.

The agreement is set to be completed by the end of the year. Should the deal go through, it would be the airline’s first order since the crash of its Boeing 737 MAX in March.

Earlier this year, Ethiopian Airlines took delivery of the milestone Dash 8-400 aircraft. The aircraft is the 25th Dash 8-400 aircraft delivered to Ethiopian Airlines.

Ethiopian operates the youngest and most technologically advanced Fleet in Africa. The airline flies 11 million passengers annually to over 117 destinations and is fact emerging as Africa’s leading aviation company.