Ethiopian Airlines CEO says company is interested in purchasing 10 Boeing 777X

Ethiopian Airlines is in preliminary talks with Boeing that could lead to an order for 10 of the U.S. plane manufacturer’s latest model, the 777X, the airline’s chief executive said. Tewolde Gebremariam told Reuters, in a telephone interview, “When the 777X comes, as soon as we can get the (production) slots we will be there.”

With the deal worth a potential $3.8 billion, at list prices, he also added, “We are discussing with Boeing for about 10 777X.”
The comments also represents a strengthening of Ethiopian’s interest in the 406-seat jet after it said, last month, it was evaluating it but had no immediate plans to place an order.

The 777X was launched with record orders at the Dubai Airshow in November and the airline is expanding its fleet as part of an existing plan to increase revenues five-fold to $10 billion by 2025. Furthermore, the company plans to order 10-20 smaller narrow body jets and expects to make a decision within three months.

Gebremariam also stated that the Ethiopian flagship carrier also wanted to lease up to three more Boeing 787 Dreamliners and would order even more directly from Boeing if they were available. Recently, the airline restored a Dreamliner to service after a fire on the ground in London’s Heathrow Airport, but has said it is satisfied with the performance of Boeing’s high-tech jet despite persistent reports of glitches.

Modifications offered by Boeing, since it was grounded in a crisis over melting batteries last year, have improved the aircraft’s reliability, Gebremariam said. The CEO also stated that he was not worried about recent turbulence in emerging markets, which continued to increase their demand for air travel, notably on expanding trade routes with China.

“The continent of Africa is still attracting a lot of foreign direct investment and that means huge growth in traffic,” he said.
But he complained that African airlines faced unfair competition from rivals prepared to “dump capacity,” referring to the practice of flooding a route with cheap seats to win market share or pressure rivals. However, he declined to name the airlines involved.

Due to its location, analysts say Ethiopian mainly competes for business with long-haul rivals such as Turkish Airlines and Gulf carriers Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways.

Source: The Africa Report