Ethiopian Airlines Celebrates 60 Years

Ethiopian Airlines, Africa’s aviation pioneer, employing more than 4,700 people and carrying more than 1.5 million passengers a year to 45 destinations, was founded 60 years ago.

On April 8, 1946, when Ethiopian made its maiden international flight to Cairo, air travel was a luxury reserved for a select few and the flights themselves entailed a bumpy ride in World War II surplus C-47 - known in the passenger version as DC-3 - propeller planes. As befitted the historic occasion the Emperor and a large crowd of residents of Addis Ababa were at the airport to see the flight takeoff for Cairo at 8 a.m.

The service to Cairo was followed by weekly services to Djibouti and Aden, as well as a domestic flight to Jimma. As demand grew, Ethiopian bought four more Skytrains from the US government. The first planes were not comfortable for passengers traveling long distances because all seats were on the side of the fuselage with the central aisle left for cargo. To increase passenger comfort the airline bought three more Skytrains in 1947. The aircraft had 21 converted forward facing seats, which were among the first to wear the colorful Ethiopian Airlines livery, which remained in use until June 2003.

In the late 1940s, Ethiopian extended its route network to Nairobi, Port Sudan, Bombay and chartered flights to Jeddah. Slowly the web of domestic routes grew as more airstrips, which were usually covered with grass grew.

Ethiopian Airlines started long haul flights to Frankfurt in 1957. To support the long haul routes of Addis Ababa-Cairo-Athens-Frankfurt, three Douglas DC-6B Cloud Masters, with capacity of 71 passengers, were delivered in 1958. In 1960, the great year of African Independence, the route network continued to expand pioneering the first east-west flights across Africa to Monrovia with intermediate stops at Khartoum and Accra. The flight marked a milestone not only in the history of Ethiopian but also of African aviation. The airline steadily expanded its services throughout the continent and established the largest network.

The Airline inaugurated jest service on January 15, 1963, with flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi and subsequently on January 26, 1964, Ethiopian completed the first ever jet engine overhaul in Africa.

In 1979 Boeing 727s were bought to replace the aging Boeing 720s. In the 1980s the airline introduced several new aircraft to update its fleet. Wide-bodied Boeing 767s arrived at Addis Ababa on June 1, 1984.

Then come the roaring 1990s. The route network stretched from Europe (London, Frankfurt and Rome) to China (Beijing) and Thailand (Bangkok). The Middle East and Indian sub-continent were well represented, and the airline’s African route reached Senegal and Ivory Coast in the west, Cairo in the north, and Johannesburg and Durban in the south. Another giant leap was made in July 1998 when Ethiopian launched a twice-weekly service to Washington, its first destination in the Americas and flights to New York followed shortly. To support the route expansion, the airline embarked on a fleet enhancement program by ordering 6 Boeing 767-300 and four Boeing B737-700 New Generation aircraft.

Construction of a new Cargo Terminal started in November 2003. The new cargo terminal will accommodate four-cargo aircraft load at a time. Another big construction work, a brand new maintenance hangar, was started in December 2003.

On April 28, 2005 Ethiopian completed an agreement for the purchase of five Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets and purchase rights for five additional 787s, which was later converted to firm order. With the purchase order for ten B787 Dreamliners, Ethiopian became part of the launch team of the revolutionary airplane.

In March 2006, Ethiopian announced the beginning of e-ticketing service to Addis Ababa -Nairobi, Addis Ababa - Johannesburg and Addis Ababa - Frankfurt routes.

The introduction of e-ticketing, opening of new destinations, and the arrival of the B787 in 2008 will be the beginning of an era of unprecedented passenger comfort and technical performance.

Celebrating 60 years of service, Ethiopian Airlines is now on the threshold of a new era. As our 60th anniversary motto attests “dedication brought us this far and passion will take us even farther.”

PR & Publications
April 08, 2006