ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA — Ethiopian Airlines and Boeing have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on positioning Ethiopia as an aviation hub for Africa.



The MoU is indicative of Boeing and Ethiopian Airlines' interest to establish a mutually beneficial world-class aviation partnership as Boeing has recognized Ethiopian as a global aviation leader in the continent.

With this MoU, Ethiopian and Boeing agree to work in partnership in four areas of strategic collaboration namely: Industrial Development, Advanced Aviation Training, Educational Partnership, and Leadership Development in three years.

To this end, joint multidisciplinary teams have been established to implement the strategic partnership and important milestones have been marked.

“I am very much thrilled not only to sign this historic MoU with our long-standing aviation partner, Boeing but also to the implementation of milestones. We have been working in collaboration with Boeing on different large-scale projects in aviation for more than 70 years to serve the continent of Africa and this partnership expands and builds our capability in multiple fields. I have a firm conviction that with our dedication to its implementation, the MoU will successfully attain its goal of positioning Ethiopia as the continent’s aviation hub. We highly value the critical role of our American partner companies in accomplishing our goals and we will continue to work with key American aviation players like Boeing, GE, Pratt and Whitney and Collins Aerospace etc... in our journey towards excellence in aviation,” Mr. Tewolde GebreMariam, Group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines said.

Ethiopian and Boeing aim Ethiopian Aviation Academy to be recognized as a global standard for aviation training. Boeing is committed to developing Ethiopia’s manufacturing capability and aftermarket aviation service. Through this MoU, Boeing and Ethiopian will partner to advance capabilities to compete globally.

They will collaborate with highly qualified educational institutions and aviation industry partners to create specialized learning and development programs to meet workforce demands. Boeing and Ethiopian will also work together to develop current and future generations of leaders in Ethiopia for Africa.

On 10 March 2019, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport in Ethiopia to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya.  The Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft which operated the flight crashed near the town of Bishoftu six minutes after takeoff, killing all 157 people aboard.

After this accident, the relations between Ethiopian and Boeing soured. Ethiopian accused Boeing of negligence in development of the 737 MAX jets.