Ethiopica will decide in three months whether to order a regional jet
Ethiopian Airlines’ CEO Mesfin Tasew Bekele said late Saturday night at a meeting of airline executives in Brazil that the company will likely decide within the next three months whether to order 25 smaller commercial jets to grow its local network.
The biggest airline in Africa, with 147 planes, is looking at the Airbus A220, the Embraer E-2, and the Boeing 737 MAX 7, which should be approved by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration this year.
The airline would utilize the planes domestically and for nearby international flights.
Bekele stated, “There are some issues, but I anticipate a decision within three months.” Bekele didn’t say what the problems were.
The A220 program is still losing money, and its biggest rival, the Brazilian-made Embraer, has been giving it a lot of trouble.
Like other airlines, Ethiopian Airlines has had to deal with higher fuel prices because of the war in Iran. To meet lower customer demand, it has cut flights to the Middle East, such as from three flights a day to two, he said.
The airline is currently spending approximately 60% more on jet fuel overall, but it has successfully alleviated concerns about shortages.
“The supply problem has been resolved.” He said this while at the annual summit of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) this weekend in Rio de Janeiro. “It does okay now,” he added. “But the price problem is a big one.”
