Ethiopian Airlines may decide on possible orders for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and smaller CSeries or Embraer E2 jets at the Farnborough air show, the African airline’s CE said. “Hopefully we will decide in Farnborough,” Tewolde Gebremariam said Tuesday. The carrier is eyeing 10-20 of the smaller jets, he said. Ethiopian has previously said it was looking at around 13 787s. The Farnborough air show runs from 16-22 July. Meanwhile, Ethiopian is also expanding by taking stakes in new airlines in Africa, notably in Guinea, Chad, Zambia and Mozambique, part of a strategy by African countries to integrate more on air transport and create a pan-African airline. “Ethiopian is in the forefront of leading that integration,” he said. Ethiopian Airlines could also be partly liberalised too, Gebremariam said, with the government looking at whether it could be opened up to other investors to help it grow.<br/>
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Ethiopian Airlines has finalised preparations to launch 4X-weekly Addis Ababa-Barcelona El Prat (Spain) services beginning Aug. 1. Ethiopian will use a Boeing 787 on this route. Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Tewolde Gebremariam said: “Barcelona, which will be our second destination in Spain, after Madrid, [will become] the 13th city in our European network.” Separately, the Star Alliance member will launch 3X-weekly Jakarta (Indonesia) services on Aug 17. The new destination will be routed via its existing Addis Ababa-Bangkok services.<br/>
India has decided not to immediately revive a plan to sell its money-losing flag carrier Air India after a failed attempt to find a buyer for the state asset, people familiar with the matter said. PM Narendra Modi’s administration has virtually abandoned the planned sale of Air India after it failed to attract any bidder in a process that ended last month, the people said. The government now plans to focus on improving its operations and selling the carrier’s building in Mumbai, ground handling and aircraft maintenance units. The failed sale is a setback for Modi’s efforts to showcase his credentials as a reformist steering the state away from running businesses ahead of an election due next year. The government would not make any changes to the initial proposal of offering a 76% stake in the carrier as the terms are considered attractive, the people said. The government is reviewing the process to fix the reasons behind the failed attempt. Earlier, Press Trust of India reported that the government had put off the sale for now.<br/>
Airbus's third test-flight A330-900, carrying the colours of launch operator TAP Portugal, has landed in Lisbon after commencing the initial stage of route-proving flights. For the first state of route-proving, MSN1819 is set to fly on to Brazil, visiting cities including Recife, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Miami. The Rolls-Royce Trent 7000-powered aircraft took off on 19 June from Toulouse's runway 32R – using a full-thrust departure, rather than a flex setting, on the request of flight-test engineers – for a 1h 30min flight to the Portuguese capital. The 298-seat aircraft – featuring the airframer's three-class revamped 'Airspace' cabin interior, fitted with Recaro seating – was transporting board members from the carrier and the airframer, as well as government figures and media representatives. Route-proving will take the aircraft to Asia, with stops in Kuala Lumpur and other regional hubs, before it returns to Europe via Mauritius. It also fly to Delhi before heading west again, operating through Reykjavik, Chicago and Atlanta. The exercise is intended to demonstrate the A330neo's readiness for airline service and is set to run to 7 July. Certification is still on track for summer this year, with subsequent entry into service with TAP.<br/>