Boeing and Ethiopian Airlines officials have announced that the
airline will be the first to bring the revolutionary Boeing 787 into
service on the African Continent. SEATTLE, Feb. 04, 2005
Ethiopian Dreamliner financiers pull out
18 April, 2009
Reporter - Financiers of the Ethiopian Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, DVB and ING, have pulled out as the result of the current global credit crunch.
In February 2005, Ethiopian, had placed firm orders with Boeing for ten 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft with a total value of 1.3 billion USD at least prices.
In August 2005, the airline signed an agreement with GE for the purchase of twenty GEnx engines to power the Dreamliners at a cost of 300 million dollars. Ethiopian is the first African carrier to order Dreamliners and the second airline in the world next to Japan Airways.
Ex-Im Bank had agreed to guarantee the loan to fund the purchase of the aircraft. The management of Ethiopian secured a loan for the purchase of the Dreamliners from ING and DVB banks.
Reliable sources told The Reporter that DVB and ING recently pulled out of the financing deal as the agreement had expired before the deliveries of the Dreamliners. It is to be recalled that Boeing had repeatedly postponed the deliveries of the new aircraft.
Sources said the two banks would have renewed the financing deal had it not been for the global economic crisis. According to sources, ING completely withdrew from financing aviation businesses in the wake of the economic crisis. DVB, however, was willing to renegotiate with the management of Ethiopian on financing options. Sources say DVB had asked for a higher interest rate and exposure fee, which is at least double what had been agreed initially. Ethiopian has reimbursed the financiers more than 13 million dollars.
So far Ethiopian has paid 30 million dollars for the new aircraft. “Ethiopian is in a good financial position to finance the Dreamliners’ purchase. There are also other financing options,” sources said. The Reporter has learnt that at the moment Ethiopian is financing the Dreamliners’ purchase. Next week an Ethiopian delegation will leave for the US to hold talks with EX-Im, Boeing and other financiers. EX-IM is still committed to assist Ethiopian.
Today, Ethiopian operates 22 modern jetliners (nine Boeing 767-300 ER, six
757-200 ER, five 737-700, one 757-260 and one 757-200 freighters) and five
Fokker 50s. The airline also operate leased two MD 11s and B747-200s freighters.
Currently, Ethiopian has the largest cargo fleet in Africa.
Ethiopian, which styles itself as a world class African airline serves 53
destinations spread around the globe. The national flag carrier wholly owned
by the Ethiopian government uses the Boeing fleet for international flights
and the five propeller aircraft for domestic services.
As part of a fleet modernization programme launched in 2003, Ethiopian acquired six B767-300 and six 737-700 from Boeing in the past three years.