First starting its operations with former military Douglas C-47 transports, Ethiopian Airlines has grown to become Africa’s largest airline. Founded on December 21st, 1946, the carrier now has a fleet of 130 aircraft, operating a particularly diverse fleet of widebody twinjets. Having already covered the airline’s history in previous articles, let’s specifically take a look back at the carrier’s past year.
Now 76 years old, Ethiopian’s 75th year as an airline wasn’t an easy one considering the ongoing challenges presented by the global health crisis. Sadly, the airline’s 73rd and 74th years had their own issues, too, of course. Indeed, 2021 has been a continuation of problems that began in 2019- with the carrier being one of two airlines at the center of the Boeing 737 MAX crisis.
Despite these fierce headwinds, the carrier continues to operate and demonstrate the strength of African aviation.
April 2021 marked a milestone moment for the airline as it delivered 2.184 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine through the COVAX global vaccine-sharing initiative. The leadership at Ethiopian Airlines said that its goal was to take a leading role in transporting vaccines across the globe.
Six months later, the airline proudly announced that it had delivered over 50 million doses to more than 28 countries. The work of transporting vaccines has been carried out by the airline’s cargo division: Ethiopian Cargo and Logistics Services, Africa’s largest cargo service provider. The firm says that it has successfully distributed the vaccines via its specially equipped facility called ‘Pharma Wing.’
The airline’s focus on cargo will continue as it is partnering with IAI to setup a 767 passenger-to-freighter conversion facility at Ethiopian’s Addis Ababa hub. This new partnership was announced in August 2021.
We have transported and delivered the first batch of COVID-19 Vaccines to Ethiopia. The shipment has arrived today and delivered to the Ethiopian MoH in a ceremony held in our cargo terminal. We will keep on providing this mission-critical service to save lives. #FlyEthiopian pic.twitter.com/yx3XtNq0JR
— Ethiopian Airlines (@flyethiopian) March 7, 2021
In addition to its work in transporting vaccinations, the airline also notes that it was one of the few carriers that worked continuously throughout the crisis amid border closures and travel restrictions. As a result, Ethiopian had reunited or repatriated more than 63,000 stranded passengers.
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