Ethiopian Airlines' Boeing 787
Photo courtesy of Ethiopian Airlines
Dreamliner to make 1st stop in Israel
Boeing 787 flight from Addis Ababa to land in Tel Aviv with Ethiopian Airlines in coming weeks
Ethiopian Airlines' Boeing 787 (Dreamliner) will be the first of the Dreamliner models to land in Israel.
The festive event will take place in a few weeks, when a scheduled commercial flight from Addis Ababa will land in Tel Aviv. Then, next winter, the company is planning on operating the 787s on its Tel Aviv route on one of its weekly flights.
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The company has also ordered 10 planes of this kind, while five are set to arrive by the end of 2012 and the rest will arrive during 2013.
"We're bringing this plane to Israel as a gesture to our passengers from Israel who have faith in us and fly with us to Ethiopia and other destinations in Africa. The first flight to Israel will be an introductory flight for the Israeli audience. Once we receive the other planes, we will operate a weekly route to Tel Aviv," Begashaw said.
The Dreamliner planes currently fly from Addis Ababa to Johannesburg and China. The Ethiopian Airlines' Boeing 787 flight will land in Israel on September 11 at 4:30 am.
Ethiopian Airlines is Africa's fastest growing airline. It currently serves as Ethiopia's flag carrier, and is wholly owned by the government. The airline was established in 1946 and has a fleet of 47 planes.
The airline travels to 70 international destinations and is considered a popular airline among Israelis traveling to Africa and Eastern Asia.
In 2012, Ethiopian Airlines has flown over 42,000 passangers flying between Tel Aviv and Addis Ababa – a 27% growth compared with the previous year.
