President Barak Obama and Tewolde GebreMariam, Group CEO, Ethiopian Airlines held discussions at Bole International Airport beside the B787 Dreamliner Aircraft. The President was very happy to see the Boeing 787 Dreamliner in Ethiopian flag and he thanked Ethiopian Airlines for being a very good longtime customer of Boeing and the USA. He said he has visited the factories in which they are made. He asked for the number of B-787 Dreamliners’ ET operates and GebreMariam replied that Ethiopian has 13 in service and eight on order.
They also discussed the performance of the B-787 Dreamliners. The President was interested to know the most profitable routes in relation to Ethiopian’s vast network. Group CEO briefed him mentioning some examples including Washington DC, Beijing, Shanghai, Changzhou, Hong Kong, Luanda etc.
GebreMariam further explained to Obama that Ethiopian is flying to 91 international destinations in five continents, (Washington DC and Los Angeles in the USA and Toronto in Canada, 52 destinations in Africa, 24 destinations in the middle East and Asia and 12 destinations in Europe).
Group CEO Ethiopian Airlines has also emphasised on further intensifying the on- going efforts to re-open the USA Exim Bank as it is ET’s main guarantor of the loans used to purchase Boeing Airplanes.
