Ethiopian Airlines signs parts manufacturing agreement

Ethiopian Airlines has signed a memorandum of understanding with South African aerospace firm Aerosud Holdings to form an Ethiopia-based joint venture, which will manufacture aircraft parts for Airbus, Boeing and others. “The manufacturing facilities, that will be set up in due course, are expected to be located in the vicinity of [Addis Ababa] Bole International,” Ethiopian Airlines group CE Tewolde Gebremariam said, adding that this location—right next to Ethiopian’s main base—will offer good economies of scale and simplify imports and exports. Ethiopian performed a feasibility study to establish “potential areas of manufacturing” for the project, including “rigorous discussions” with manufacturers, including Boeing and Bombardier. <br/>