Ethiopian Airlines has turned to leasing companies to source its fleet as it sought to maintain its growth despite aircraft delivery delays from Boeing.
Africa’s largest airline said it has been waiting for new 737 MAX passenger jets and 777 freight aircraft from Boeing since April. It is now expecting the 777Fs in September but has yet to be provided with a new schedule for delivery of the 737 MAXs.
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In an interview with Bloomberg, CEO Mesfin Tasew Bekele said: “Late delivery of the aeroplanes will affect our growth plan and we hope that Boeing will improve its delivery programmes.
“But, in parallel with that, we didn’t want to wait for Boeing to deliver the ordered aeroplanes and now we are leasing aeroplanes from the leasing market.”
Bekele also said that while Ethiopian had “no choice but to wait” for the deliveries, he still believed that Boeing would address these issues and the relationship between the two companies remained strong.
In line with the CEO’s comments, the airline has continued to place orders with Boeing this year, despite the manufacturer’s high profile production issues, and added another eight aircraft to its orderbook in March with a deal for 777-9s.
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By GlobalDataBekele’s comments also came shortly after Boeing announced that it would be opening a new African headquarters in Ethopia’s capital city Addis Ababa in October, something the CEO said would “further improve” the decades-long relationship between the companies.
The company’s interest in Africa reflects its anticipation of growth in the continent’s aviation industry. Boeing’s latest Commercial Market Outlook report showed an expectation for African airlines to more than triple their traffic in the next two decades.
As a result, the outlook predicts that domestic airlines will add around 1,000 aircraft to the African fleet, with Ethiopian likely to remain one of the biggest competitors thanks to its healthy backlog of 70 firm aircraft orders across Boeing and Airbus.
