Ethiopian Airlines makes African aviation history with 100th aircraft in active service

Ethiopian Airlines has taken delivery of its 100th aircraft, Boeing 787 Dreamliner on June 6, 2018, once again leading the way in fleet expansion and modernisation in Africa.

As part of Ethiopian Corporate Social Responsibility commitments, the new aircraft has ferried medical equipment from the Seattle-based NGO, Direct Relief, to St Paulos Hospital in Addis Ababa. The shipment includes surgical stools and other medical supplies to be used for both teaching and patient care.

Group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, Mr Tewolde GebreMariam, remarked, “It is an immense honour for all of us at Ethiopian to reach the milestone of 100 aircraft. This milestone is a continuation of our historical aviation leadership role in Africa and a testimony of the successful implementation of our fast, profitable and sustainable growth plan, Vision 2025.

Ethiopian was the first to avail jet service in the continent back in 1962 and operated the first African B767 in 1984, the first African B777-200LR in 2010, the first African B787800 Dreamliner and B777-200 freighter in 2012 and the first African A350 in 2016 and the first African B787-9 aircraft in 2017.

Ethiopian now operates one of the youngest and most modern 100 aircraft, with an average age of less than five years. Fleet modernisation and expansion is one of the four critical pillars of our Vision 2025 strategic roadmap, in support of our fast expanding network, which has now reached over 110 international destinations covering five continents.

Over the years, Ethiopian has been investing heavily in fleet modernisation and expansion, which is one of the pillars of Vision 2025. Ethiopian was the first African Airline and second only to Japan to operate the B787 Dreamliner in 2012 and the first carrier in Africa to usher with the Airbus A350 XWB in 2016.