September 9, 2017 - Ethiopia's flag carrier and Africa's fastest growing airline, Ethiopian Airlines, is going to take delivery of the first of the four Boeing B787-9 aircraft next month. Africa's largest airline, Ethiopian, was the first in Africa and only the second in the world next to Japan to acquire and operate B787-8 mid-size twin engine aircraft in 2012.

In 2015, Ethiopian placed firm orders for four B787-9 aircraft, an extended version of B787-8 Dreamliner aircraft. Today the airline operates 19 B787-8 aircraft. Sources told The Reporter that Ethiopian will take delivery of the first B787-9 direct from Boeing in October 2017. Sources said Ethiopian and Boeing will issue a joint press statement on the delivery of the first Ethiopian B787-9 next week.

The state of the art B787-9 is known for its range, comfort and fuel efficiency. The passenger aircraft which has a seat capacity of 300 with three class configuration costs 264 million dollars at list price.

Ethiopian has a modern and young fleet of 92 aircraft with an average age of five. Currently, the airline has 60 aircraft on its order book. Under its Vision 2025 growth and development strategy the airline anticipates to operate 140 aircraft by 2025.

Source:- Reporter