Aviation 12

• the lack of infrastructure at these remote
  Ethiopian air elds being blamed for the
  accidents.
  In 1965, the airline changed its legal status
  from a corporation to a share company, with
  the government owning all the stock. It also
  altered its name from Ethiopian Air Lines
  to Ethiopian Airlines. The carrier’s network
  continued to grow with the introduction of
   ights to Paris (in 1971) and to London
  Heathrow (in 1973). The most important route
  expansion came when the carrier was able
  to secure a service to Shanghai in February
  1972 and later the same year switched to the
  Chinese capital Beijing. A Shanghai service
  restarted in 2014.

TERRORISM

The early jet age also coincided with a time

when political activists began violent attacks

on aircraft. Eritrean nationalists wanted

to liberate the province from Ethiopia and

harassed the national airline as part of the

campaign. They wrecked a Boeing 707 while it

was on the ground at Frankfurt in March 1969.

A second operation destroyed a Boeing 720

at Karachi a few weeks later. Hijackings were

also part of the terrorists’ tactics.There were

two attempts later in 1969 and further attacks

followed in the 1970s.

There were also problems at home. In

1974, a military junta known as the Derg, took

control of the government. Ethiopia became

a hard-line Marxist country, a situation that

would last until 1991, but interestingly, the

airline ignored opportunities to buy aircraft

from the Soviet Union, the country’s principal

patron. At the same time, Ethiopia became

known around the world as a place of severe

drought and famine.

The country spiralled into civil war for

nearly 16 years as various rebel factions

attempted to oust the Derg. Tourism, one of

the mainstays of the international airline’s

success, collapsed. Ethiopian Airlines was

forced to increase fare prices and reduce

services, with domestic operations taking the

brunt of the hit.

In a bid to stay solvent, the airline wet-

leased aircraft to several carriers including

Saudia, Air India and Air Algérie. The

company’s  nancial situation had become

so bad that fuel suppliers would only accept

cash. Signi cant cash injections by the

government helped the airline survive.

Thanks to this turnaround, Ethiopian Airlines

was able to modernise and expand its  eet. In

1979, two Boeing 727-200s joined, replacing

the oldest 720s. A third followed in 1982. That

year two de Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo

short- eld transports were added for use on

domestic services. And in 1985, six DHC-6

Twin Otters were put on the busier domestic

routes, where they replaced the Skytrains

(although the last Skytrain would remain in

service until October 1991). Two ATR 42s

were also purchased and delivered in 1999

and 2000. A third was leased from July 1996

and the next year went to Air Botswana.

In 1982, the carrier became the  rst

African carrier to order the Boeing 767-

200ER. Two aircraft were acquired to replace

the ageing 720s. In addition to their 190-seat

passenger capacity, they could carry 12

tons of cargo in the hold and a dedicated

management department was created to

develop this income stream. Until then,

carrying freight had been seen as a public

service, rather than a secondary source

of revenue. The  rst 767-200ER arrived on

June 1, 1984, setting a non-stop twin-engine

distance record,  ying 7,500 miles (12,070km)

from Washington DC to Addis Ababa. The

second followed later that year, and two

more by the end of the century. One of these

aircraft was hijacked in November 23, 1996.

Running out of fuel, the captain was forced

to ditch the jet, but it crashed into a coral reef

resulting in the deaths of 125 of the 175 on

board. It remains the worst incident in the

history of the airline.

A single Boeing 737-200 joined the  eet

in late 1987, followed by a second one a year

later. A third arrived on a short term lease for

the carrier in 2000.

BIG STEPS

Ethiopian Airlines became the  rst passenger

airline to take delivery of the Boeing 757-

200 Freighter when the  rst of  ve arrived

in 1991. As the carrier celebrated its 50th

anniversary in 1996, the network stretched

from Europe (London, Frankfurt and Rome)

to Asia (Beijing and Bangkok). The Middle

East and the Indian sub-continent were well

represented, and the airline’s African routes

reached Senegal and Ivory Coast in the west,

Cairo in the north and Johannesburg and

Durban in the south. The  eet consisted of

two ATR 42s, four DHC-6 Twin Otters, one

Boeing 737-200, four Boeing 757s and three

767s. For its cargo operations, the airline

could count on one Boeing 707 freighter,

one 757 freighter and two Lockheed L-100

Hercules as well as a DHC-5 Buffalo.

In October 1996, the  rst of  ve Fokker

50s was acquired to enhance the domestic

network and in 1998 another giant leap was

made with the launch of a twice-weekly

service to Washington – the airline’s  rst

destination in the Americas. New York

followed shortly after.

HUGE GROWTH

In the new millennium, Ethiopian Airlines

embarked on a period of sustained growth

and  eet modernisation. Night operations

out of Addis Ababa were introduced to

complement the daytime  ights and a new

runway and control tower was inaugurated at

Bole International Airport.

In 2002, the  rst of six Boeing 767-300ERs

took over from the older 767-200ERs. The

following year the initial example of six

Boeing 737-700s entered the  eet to replace

the ageing 737-200s. In February of the

same year, Girma Wake (ex Gulf Air) became

CEO of the airline. He spent most of 2004

devising a bold plan (with the assistance

of Ernst & Young) and launched his ‘Vision

2010’ strategy in 2005. Immediately after he

took office, operating revenues increased

by 26% to more than half-a-billion dollars

in 2004/2005. Financial results soared. An

aggressive marketing policy was supported

by major cost cuts which included new, more

50 Aviation News incorporating Jets December 2018

develop this income stream. Until then,

carrying freight had been seen as a public

service, rather than a secondary source

of revenue. The  rst 767-200ER arrived on

June 1, 1984, setting a non-stop twin-engine

distance record,  ying 7,500 miles (12,070km)

from Washington DC to Addis Ababa. The

second followed later that year, and two

more by the end of the century. One of these

aircraft was hijacked in November 23, 1996.

Running out of fuel, the captain was forced

to ditch the jet, but it crashed into a coral reef

resulting in the deaths of 125 of the 175 on

board. It remains the worst incident in the

history of the airline. history of the airline.

BIG STEPS

Ethiopian Airlines became the  rst passenger

airline to take delivery of the Boeing 757-

200 Freighter when the  rst of  ve arrived

in 1991. As the carrier celebrated its 50th

anniversary in 1996, the network stretched

from Europe (London, Frankfurt and Rome)

to Asia (Beijing and Bangkok). The Middle

East and the Indian sub-continent were well

represented, and the airline’s African routes

history of the airline.

In January 1963, Ethiopian Airlines entered the jet era when it started Boeing 720 services.

AirTeamImages.com/Wolfgang Mendorf

The carrier continued to acquire aircraft from Western manufacturers despite the country being

communist-run between 1974 and 1991. One of the two 737-200s that joined the  eet during this

period. AirTeamImages.com/The Samba Collection