Ethiopian Airlines report record profit despite difficulties with the 787 Dreamliner

Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner. IMAGE/Boeing

The chief executive of Ethiopian Airlines says that his company has pocketed a record profit despite the temporary grounding of its Boeing 787 Dreamliner planes.

Tewolde Gebremariam told reporters Monday that his company is expecting a record profit with 20 to 25 percent growth in revenue and number of passengers.

He said Ethiopian Airlines would have been even more profitable, if it had not been for the grounding of its four 787 planes for more than three months. In January the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration grounded the aircraft after incidents with smoldering batteries on two different planes.

Ethiopian Airlines is seeking to be compensated by Boeing and has already notified the airplane manufacturer of the financial loss it incurred due to the grounding, the CEO said.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press