Ethiopian Airlines (ET, Addis Ababa International) has been forced to lease four B737 MAX aircraft this fiscal year to bridge a capacity gap created by delivery delays from Boeing of B737-8s initially expected in April 2024, according to CEO Mesfin Tasew Bekele.
Speaking on Bloomberg TV on August 27, he said the leased planes would arrive from November 2024, but did not mention the lessor concerned: "Boeing didn't tell us a schedule or a revised schedule for the delivery of the next B737 MAX aeroplanes. We are waiting to hear from them, and definitely, late delivery of the airplanes will affect our growth plan, and we hope that Boeing will improve its delivery programme. But in parallel with that, we didn't want to wait for Boeing to deliver the ordered airplanes, and now we are leasing airplanes from the lease market. According to the current agreement, we will be receiving four MAX airplanes starting in November of this year."
He said Ethiopian Airlines had been expecting the delivery from Boeing of ordered B737 MAX and B777-Fs in April, but these had been delayed. "Unfortunately, both deliveries have been delayed up to now, and the next B737 MAX was supposed to be delivered this month. But as you may have heard in the news, there are some technical issues with the airplanes. As a result of that, delivery of the airplanes has further been pushed, unfortunately. The next promised delivery date that we received from Boeing for the B777 freighter is for the quarter of September," he disclosed.
At the same time, Airbus will be delivering four A350-1000s to the Ethiopian flag carrier this fiscal year, between October 2024 and March 2025, he confirmed. "Ethiopian Airlines will receive four A350-1000 airplanes during this fiscal year, the first will come in October, and the last will come in March of 2025."
He said that initially, Ethiopian Airlines had been scheduled to receive 16 aircraft this fiscal year, starting in July 2024 and ending in June 2025. All but the four A350s had been from Boeing. In total, the airline has 124 aircraft on order from both OEMs (70 firm orders and 54 options/purchase rights). Of the firm orders, 59 are from Boeing and 11 from Airbus.
ch-aviation fleets data shows that Ethiopian Airlines has the following outstanding orders from both manufacturers:
Bekele said even though the delayed deliveries were unwelcome and affecting the airline's strategic growth plan, the relationship between Ethiopian Airlines and Boeing would not suffer significantly as a result. The airline is cognisant that it is not the only airline affected by delivery delays and expects Boeing to resolve these issues eventually.
African expansion plans
Bekele also disclosed that Ethiopian Airlines expects to conclude partnerships with at least two more African states in the next 12 months, which would see it either invest in an existing carrier or establish a new airline in conjunction with an African government.
"A few African governments have requested us to go there for airlines in partnership, and we're working on that. And some other governments have requested us to manage their own airlines without equity partnership, which we are considering as well. So we are evaluating alternative strategies to reinforce our presence and reach in the African continent. I believe we will have some sort of partnership in at least two African countries in the coming 12 months," he said.
Both Kenya Airways and South African Airways are currently seeking strategic investors. Ethiopian Airlines already holds a minority shareholding in several African joint venture carriers as part of its strategy to drive traffic through Addis Ababa International and expand its influence and connectivity across the continent. These include ASKY Airlines in Togo, Malawi Airlines, Zambia Airways, and dormant Ethiopian Mozambique Airlines.
A joint venture with the Nigerian federal government to establish a new national carrier, Nigeria Air, collapsed recently following a change of government and opposition from the country's private airlines. "That project is closed," Bekele said. "We don't have current plans to go to Nigeria at this time; we don't have any intention to partner with any of the Nigerian airlines, because it has been politicised. We tried to help the country by partnering with the government and other institutional investors in Nigeria, to provide our expertise, our experience, and establish a reliable airline that would be profitable in the short term. But it was not welcomed by the Nigerian airlines. They believed that if Ethiopian Airlines goes into Nigeria, it will hurt their business, which is is not correct. Our intention was to help the country, but since they objected to the idea, there is no need for Ethiopian Airlines to go there, as long as they don't accept this. We don't want to be a problem there."
