Ethiopian Boeing 787 Dreamliner First in the World to Resume Service - 27 April, 2013

Ethiopian Airlines CEO, Tewolde Gebremariam and Randy Tinseth, Boeing Vice President of Marketing, will be on board this flight, which will be the first commercial flight in the world since the grounding of the Dreamliners.

Ethiopian grounded its four Dreamliners on 17 January 2013, following the directive issued by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority due incidents related to battery issues on Japanese carriers.

Last week, the US FAA certified solutions proposed by Boeing to the battery issues allowing Ethiopian and other operators to retrofit the new and additional systems and resume flights with the Dreamliners. Boeing and Ethiopian engineers are implementing solutions certified by the US FAA. Following the successful completion of the retrofitting work on the airplane and smooth test flight by Ethiopian pilots, the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority approved the commercial flight resumption of Ethiopian Dreamliner. These solutions will be done on all four of Ethiopian Dreamliners one after the other.

"We are excited to resume our service with the Dreamliners. The Dreamliner is the most advanced commercial aircraft, which has enabled passengers travelling with Ethiopian to enjoy the ultimate on-board comfort. During the five months our four Dreamliners were in service, we were very pleased with their performance, and the feedback from our passengers has been overwhelmingly positive. I look forward to being on-board the first passenger flight on Saturday, 27 April." said Tewolde Gebremariam, CEO of Ethiopian.

“We would like to thank Ethiopian Airlines for the patience, support and leadership shown throughout the period that the 787 Dreamliner has been grounded. We congratulate the airline on the return to commercial service of their 787 fleet. Ethiopian is a leading airline in Africa and we take pride in their achievement,” said Ray Conner, President and CEO, Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Ethiopian is the first African and the third airline in the world to own and operate the Dreamliner. Since entry into service in August 2013, Ethiopian Dreamliners have been bringing the ultimate travel experience to passengers on Ethiopian flights.

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 72 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.