BOEING AND ETHIOPIAN PARTNER TO USE B777-300ER DELIVERY FLIGHT FOR DOING GOOD
(Posted 28th January 2014)
Ethiopian Airlines’ latest aircraft delivery, a B777-300ER which the airline will receive via GECAS on a long term lease, will carry over 3 tons of medical and educational supplies for projects in Ethiopia. Beneficiaries will be the Black Lion Hospital in Addis Ababa and the Goba High School, the latter getting over 100 computers donated by the school district of Bellevue in the state of Washington. Tewolde Gebremariam, the Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines, commented on the occasion: ‘Ethiopian Airlines attaches the highest importance to its corporate social responsibility and its duty to give back to the community it serves. This is Ethiopian’s 19th humanitarian flight in partnership with Boeing. We pledge to continue such humanitarian flights and to do even more in the future, as we expand our fleet’.
This latest flight is part of Boeing’s long-running Humanitarian Delivery Flights program that began in 1992. Since then, the program has worked in partnership with nearly 50 different carriers worldwide to undertake more than 150 humanitarian flights. Ethiopian Airlines, according to the media release received from Boeing, has been a significant partner on the program, undertaking the highest number of humanitarian flights of any airline with 19 in total. In the past 10 years alone, the Addis Abba-based carrier has transported around 150,000 pounds (68,039 kilograms) of humanitarian supplies.
‘We are grateful for Ethiopian Airlines’ longstanding partnership and their commitment to bringing supplies to local communities’ said Elizabeth Warman, director of Boeing Global Corporate Citizenship for the Northwest region before adding: ‘Their dedication is humbling and it is our honor to support them in this work’.
Seattle Alliance Outreach is an organization that provides support for the improvement of medical care in developing areas of the world with particular emphasis on anesthesia and peri-operative services.
This airplane is the second brand new B777-300ER to join the Ethiopian Airlines fleet, which is made up of nearly 50 Boeing airplanes, including Next-Generation 737s, 777s, and 787 Dreamliners besides a number of ageing B757 and B767 aircraft which are now coming due for retirement as the delivery of the remaining 8 B787’s and B737NG’s is continuing to gather momentum.
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