Ethiopian Airlines (ET, Addis Ababa International) is going for the B777X from Boeing (BOE, Washington National) to cover its future longhaul needs airline Chief Executive Officer Tewolde Gebremariam has told The Wall Street Journal. The airline recently announced it aimed to double its fleet to 150 aircraft by 2025.
Following studies which compared the B777X and the A350-1000 from rival Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac), Gebremariam said Ethiopian would order between fifteen and twenty B777-8Xs to form the backbone of its future ultra-longhaul fleet. The B777-8X, which is reportedly better suited to Addis Ababa's Hot and High conditions, is a replacement for the B777-200(LR) six of which Ethiopian currently operates. An official announcement is expected to be made before year-end.
The news comes after the airline warned the recent defunding of the US Export Import Bank (ExIm Bank) may impact existing Boeing orders as well as future orders. Traditionally, Ethiopian has secured financing for its Boeing fleet purchases from the bank and has enjoyed a strong relationship throughout.
With production of the B777X family set to commence in 2017, the first airframes are also expected to arrive in time for the opening of New Addis Ababa International Airport - a four-runway megahub capable of handling up to 120 million passengers per annum once complete.
As Addis Ababa International Bole International Airport's altitude of 2,334m curtails aircraft performance, Ethiopian authorities are considering locations for the new airport that are both accessible to Addis Ababa as well as situated on lower ground. A decision will be taken before work on the USD2.5 billion facility gets under way early next year. An opening date has been set for sometime in 2018.
