africanflyer

According to Ethiopian Reporter, Ethiopian Airlines has signed an agreement with the Boeing Co. for the purchase of an MD-11. The aircraft, which is currently in passenger configuration, will be converted to a freighter with the capacity of 88 Tons and delivered in December 2008.

Ethiopian Airlines has leased and taken delivery of another B763. The aircraft, which was delivered and registered ET-AMG on July 7, is leased from Deutsche Structured Financing and joins sister ship ET-AMF, which was in turn delivered in May 2007. Both aircraft are dry-leased for six years.

According to posted schedules, Ethiopian Airlines will return to Zanzibar on October 28 with daily service via Dar Es Salaam. With this new service in place, Kilimanjaro, which is currently a stop en route to Dar Es Salaam, will be served via Entebbe.

ET805 ADD - DAR: 1015 - 1255
ET805 DAR - ZNZ: 1340 - 1410
ET806 ZNZ - DAR: 1635 - 1705
ET806 DAR - ADD: 1755 - 2035

Gulf Air and Ethiopian Airlines have started code sharing on the Addis Ababa - Bahrain - Abu Dhabi - Addis Ababa service operated by Ethiopian Airlines.

Ethiopian Airlines resumed services to Abu Dhabi after a suspension dating back to the 1990’s. Abu Dhabi is now served as part of a triangle route that includes Bahrain.

Bloomberg reports that Lufthansa and Ethiopian signed a code-sharing agreement last week. The details of the agreement, which is reportedly to take effect mid-year, have not been released.

Ex-Hainan Airlines B767-3BG(ER) was spotted in Beijing on May 9 wearing Ethiopian Airlines’ full livery, albeit with Chinese registration. The aircraft previously served Sobelair, and would join -3BGs ET-ALH and ET-ALL.

Ethiopian will resume services to Bahrain with nonstop service from Addis on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays effective the end of March. Flights will be operated using B73Ws.

ET620 ADD - BAH: 2245 - 0230
ET621 BAH - ADD: 0330 - 0715

According to posted schedules, the following enhancements are set to be made to the airline’s upcoming summer schedule (changes are implemented starting from the end of March through to the summer months):
- Frankfurt will get a fourth weekly flight which will operate via Rome, also increasing frequency to the latter to 8x per week
- Washington Dulles will be served 6x per week, up from the current four weekly flights
- Abidjan will be served 6x per week with the introduction of night flights on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
- Lagos will be served twice per day with the introduction of additional night flights on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday (which continue on to Abidjan)
- Kigali will be served daily via Nairobi, up from the current 6x per week
- London Heathrow will be served 6x per week with the addition of a flight on Thursdays
- All flights to Bamako will become nonstop, continuing on to Dakar. As a result, N’Djamena will be served with a dedicated aircraft, maintaining the 5x per week frequency (3 daytime using B752s, 2 night time using B73Ws)
- Mumbai will be served daily, up from the current 5x per week, with a new schedule that allows for an overnight return, eliminating the all-day aicraft layover
- Brazzaville and Kinshasa will see an increase in frequency from the current 5x per week to 6x per week, with no flights on Saturdays
- Jeddah will see an increase of flights to 4x per week, from the current three. The new flight will be operated on Mondays.

It has also been reported that Ethiopian will lease two additional B767s to meet its growing demands.

Ethiopian Airlines, according to posted schedules, will return to Sanaa, Yemen with four weekly flights effective the end of March. Flights will be operated on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays via Djibouti using B73Ws.

ET306 ADD - JIB: 1015 - 1115
ET306 JIB - SAH: 1215 - 1315
ET307 SAH - JIB: 1645 - 1745
ET307 JIB - ADD: 1845 - 1945

Ethiopian Airlines and World Airways signed an agreement for the lease of two DC-10Fs to be operated on behalf of Ethiopian Cargo between Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Brussels, Belgium beginning January 2007. One aircraft will be leased for six months, and the other for three.

Ethiopian Airlines has signed 5-year a lease agreement with International Lease Financing Corporation (ILFC) for a B763. The aircraft, which was delivered today, is configured with 30 Business and 190 Economy class seats.

Ethiopian Airlines’ CEO was quoted on Saturday during a press conference detailing the airline’s year performance for 2005/2006 that it plans to open new open routes to Bahrain, Monrovia in Liberia and Zanzibar, all three cities that were once served by the airline.

Ethiopian Airlines is set to begin service to Juba, Sudan effective November 16. The route, its second to Sudan, was originally set to start earlier this year. Flights will be operated 3x per week on Tusdays, Thursdays and Saturdays using B732 aircraft.

ET490 ADD - JUB: 945 - 1115
ET491 JUB - ADD: 1200 - 1330

Ethiopian Airlines has taken re-delivery of its passenger-to-cargo converted B752. The aircraft, which has served the airline since 1991, joins an existing B75F that was initially delivered as a freighter. Conversion work was undertaken by Precision Conversions in Everett, Washington, USA.

Ethiopian Airlines announced that it has made the necessary arrangements for the lease of an MD-11F aircraft that would ply the Addis Ababa-Brussels route during the upcoming January-May peak horticultural export season. The aircraft will operate daily on the route.

According to posted schedules, Ethiopian will add a fifth weekly flight between Addis Ababa and London Heathrow as of the end of October. The new flight will be operated on Mondays using B752 aircraft.

ET700 ADD - FCO: 900 - 1320
ET700 FCO - LHR: 1415 - 1555
ET701 LHR - ADD: 2100 - 800

Following the end of hostilities in Lebanon, air links between its capital city Beirut and African cities are being reopened as follows:
- Cairo, Egypt: EgyptAir will resume services on Friday September 8 with a 4x per week frequency with flights operated on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Middle East Airlines will operate daily few flights per week until the resumption of daily services on September 15
- Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Ethiopian Airlines will resume services on September 12 with a 2x per week frequency. Flights will be operated out of Addis on Mondays and Wednesdays
- Casablanca, Morocco: Royal Air Maroc will resume services on September 10 with a 2x per week frequency. Flights will be operated out of Casablanca on Sundays and Thursdays.
- Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Lagos, Nigeria; Kano, Nigeria and Accra, Ghana: Middle East Airlines will resume services to these cities as of September 8, with frequencies eventually becoming 3x per week to Abidjan, Lagos and Accra; and Kano receiving a single weekly flight.

Ethiopian Airlines announced a deal it signed with Atlasjet of Turkey for the lease of a single B752 in all-economy configuration effective September 13, 2006. The aircraft, which will be operated on an ACMI-lease (but with Ethiopian cabin crew), will remain with the airline for a period of 6 months and operated on African routes.

Further changes have been made and new flights added to Ethiopian’s upcoming winter timetable:

- Lagos, Nigeria will see an increase from the current daily services to 11x per week with the introduction of night flights operated on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays using B752 aircraft. The new flights will continue on to Accra, Ghana, doubling service that city.

ET917 ADD - LOS: 140 - 500
ET917 LOS - ACC: 600 - 600
ET916 ACC - LOS: 2000 - 2200
ET916 LOS - ADD: 2300 - 600

- Dakar, Sénégal will see an increase of service to 6x per week from the current 4x with the split of flights between day time and night time services as follows:

ET919 ADD - DKR: 2235 - 600 Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays
ET918 DKR - ADD: 1815 - 750

ET909 ADD - DKR: 830 - 1700 Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays
ET908 DKR - ADD: 720 - 2100

- N’Djamena will get an increase of flights to 5x per week from the current 3x per week schedule:

ET929 ADD - NDJ: 1015 - 1155 Thursdays, Sundays
ET928 NDJ - ADD: 1425 - 2000

ET919 ADD - NDJ: 2235 - 0015 Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays
ET918 NDJ - ADD: 205 - 750

- Bamako, Mali will see an increase of service to 6x per week from the current 3x with the split of flights between day time and night time services as follows:

ET919 ADD - BKO: 2235 - 325 Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays
ET918 BKO - ADD: 2050 - 750

ET909 ADD - BKO: 830 - 1425 Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays
ET908 BKO - ADD: 955 - 2100

Ethiopian Airlines plans to add Kolkata, India to its network which already includes Mumbai and Delhi, according to the Ethiopian Ambassador to India. Ethiopian currently flies to Mumbai 5x per week while Delhi is served 3x per week.

According to Ethiopian Airlines’ posted timetables, the airline is set to pull out of London Gatwick as of the end of August. It will however maintain its 4x per week flights to Heathrow.

Ethiopian Airlines is reportedly negotiating the lease of two ex-Varig B772s for a period of five years. If finalized, the first example is expected to join the airline in a month’s time, in time for the return of the currently wet-leased World Airways MD-11.

Edit: negotiations have been reported as being unfruitful

Based on Ethiopian Airlines’ posted schedules, the following enhancements are set to be made to the airline’s upcoming winter schedule which takes effect at the end of october:- Dubai will get a second daily flight which will be operated during the day according to the following schedule (the existing daily will maintain the current schedule):

ET602 ADD - DXB: 800 - 1245 Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays
ET603 DXB - ADD: 1915 - 2200
ET620 ADD - DXB: 1000 - 1445 Tuesdays, Thursdays, Sundays
ET621 DXB - ADD: 1600 - 1845

This addition will be above the three extra night flights operated per week within 30 minutes from the overnight dailies, bringing its total weekly flights to DXB to 17.

- Khartoum will see an increase from the current 7x per week to 10x per week. The overnight roundtrip flight will be operated daily, while the daytime flight that continues on to Cairo will be trimmed to 3x per week from 4x (Cairo in turn will see its frequency trimmed from 7x per week to 6x per week at three flights each during daytime and nigthtime)

- Johannesburg will see an increase from the current 5x per week to daily services using B73W aircraft

- Nairobi will see a change in service whereby it will have two set daily flights, one leaving Addis in the morning, and one leaving mid-late afternoon per the current schedules, with a short turnaround at Nairobi. Flights will be operated with a mix of B73W and B752 aircraft

Ethiopian Airlines’ planned service between Nairobi and Entebbe, and Nairobi and Bujumbura, which the airline had operated for years until a recent lull, has been faced with lengthy (re)approval delays from Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, the Kenyan government body which oversees the licensing of airline services, effectively grounding plans by Ethiopian to start services as of the begining of June. Under Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) to which all concerned parties belong, such services were to have been approved and operated without any restrictions from member states.