Ethiopian B787 Dreamliners Have Logged 5,560 Flight Hours in Five Months of Successful Operations

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Ethiopian B787 Dreamliners Have Logged 5,560 Flight Hours in Five Months of Successful Operations

News Release – Ethiopian Airlines
Tigrai Online Jan. 15, 2013

Ethiopian Airlines is pleased to announce that it has successfully integrated its four 787 Dreamliner aircraft in to its fleet with record length of non-stop flights and record high daily aircraft utilization in the industry. Since its first delivery in mid-August of last year, Ethiopian has logged 5,560 flight hours with average daily aircraft utilization of 14 hours.

Ethiopian is the first African and the third airline in the world to own and operate the Dreamliner. Since their entry into service, Ethiopian Dreamliners have been performing well bringing the ultimate travel experience to its passengers.

Currently, the four Ethiopian Dreamliners are deployed on regularly scheduled flights to Johannesburg, Washington D.C., Toronto, Frankfurt, Beijing, Lusaka and Harare by alternating with its B-777-200 LR. In fact, Ethiopian Airlines is the only carrier in the world, which has reached the design range capabilities of the Dreamliners by flying the aircraft from Washington D.C. to Addis Ababa (11500 km), which is the longest non-stop commercial service in record for the fleet.

“We are pleased with the performance of our Dreamliners. The Dreamliner is a highly capable and safe aircraft, which has enabled Ethiopian to enhance its service. The feedback from our passengers has been overwhelmingly positive and in some instances contributed to higher than expected passenger load factors on routes it has been deployed,” said Tewolde Gebremariam, CEO of Ethiopian. “However, like any new technology aircraft entering into service, it is normal to encounter some minor bugs here and there, which are causing some technical delays in departures as extra time is needed to correct them”, he added.

Ethiopian will receive its 5th Dreamliner in March 2013. The remaining five Ethiopian Dreamliners will be phased-in in 2014.

About Ethiopian

Ethiopian Airlines, the fastest growing airline in Africa, made its maiden international flight to Cairo in 1946 and now the Airline provides dependable services to 70 international destinations spanning four continents.

Ethiopian is proud to be a Star Alliance Member. The Star Alliance network is the leading global airline network offering customers convenient worldwide reach and a smoother travel experience. The Star Alliance network offers more than 21,555 daily flights to 1,356 airports in 193 countries.

Ethiopian is a multi-award winner for its commitment and contributions towards the development and growth of the African aviation industry and in recognition of its distinguished long-haul operations enhanced by the introduction of new routes and products. Recently, Ethiopian won "Airline Reliability Performance Award" from the Bombardier Aerospace; "African Airline of the Year Award" from Air Transport Quarterly Magazine; "Transformation Award 2012" from Planet Africa Network; "International Diamond Prize for Excellence in Quality" from the European Society for Quality Research (ESQR). Also Captain Desta Zeru, Vice-President of Flight Operations, won "Africa Legend of Travel" award from African Travel Quarterly (ATQ) magazine; and Ethiopian Airlines CEO, Tewolde Gebremariam, won "African CEO of the year" from the African CEO Forum as well as "African Business Leader of the Year" award from the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA).

With its acquisition of and firm orders for several new modern fleet, the airline is well positioned to pursue aggressively the implementation of its 2025 strategic plan to become the leading aviation group in Africa.

For more information about this press release, please contact:

Manager PR & Publications

Ethiopian Airlines

Tel: (251-1) 517-84-07

publicrelations@ethiopianairlines.com