Ethiopian Airlines is pressing ahead with plans to expand its global network. The airlines CEO Mesfin Tasew says while challenges over delayed aircraft deliveries remain, the carrier remains committed to opening new routes.

Ethiopian Airlines is pursuing an ambitious global expansion, planning to increase passenger numbers at a double-digit rate by opening new routes and boosting flight frequencies. The airline is currently experiencing a shortage of wide-body aircraft, which is expected to persist for about two years, but deliveries from Boeing and Airbus are anticipated to address this issue.

The carrier is expanding its network within Africa, including secondary cities, as well as increasing its presence in Asia, Europe, and North America. Additionally, Ethiopian Airlines is preparing to begin construction on a major new airport in Addis Ababa, with a projected investment of approximately $10 billion. The funding for this project will be sourced from both the airline's equity and external lenders.

Ethiopian Airlines pressing ahead with global plans

We are opening new routes. We are increasing frequencies. As a result of this, we expect to grow in terms of passenger numbers at double-digit rate. This will continue. What is double-digit? Between 12 and 15. Now we have some shortage of aircraft. Otherwise, we would have grown even faster than 15 percent. Is there any indication how delayed some of the aircraft is? In terms of narrow-body airplanes, we are still on track. But when it comes to wide-body airplanes, we are short. We still have shortage compared to our long-term plan. But this will continue maybe for the coming two years. After that, we will be receiving wide-body airplanes from Boeing and Airbus in large numbers. Are you concerned, though, about some of those delays, especially if they are going to impact your passenger growth numbers? In the short term, it will affect us a little bit. But we are confident that after a while, we will catch up with our growth plan. Does part of that include some of these new routes and the frequencies? Africa is our home base. We will be adding more destinations into Africa, not only the primary capital cities, but now we are expanding our reach into Africa, into secondary cities. But at the same time, we will continue expanding into Asia, China, and the Far East region mainly. And we also have a plan to add more destinations into Europe and North America. Mesfin, I imagine the looming airport in Addis is part of the plan to expand as well. Can you talk about where you are at in terms of funding for this massive airport project? The first phase of the construction work will begin at the beginning of January. That will be the official start date of the physical construction. As you may know, this is a massive project with a capital investment requirement of around $10 billion. About 30% of that will come from the Ethiopian Airlines Group as equity share, whereas 70% will come from lenders.

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