Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO, Tewolde Gebremariam, noted the airline needs regional jets that have 100 seats. “If you see our fleet we have the Q400s with 78 seats and we have ordered for B737 MAX with 160 seats. The gap between the two is wide. So we need an aircraft with about 100 seats that can fill the gap,” Tewolde furthered.
According to the CEO, Ethiopian is seeing a couple of narrow body aircrafts. This includes Bombardier CSeries SC100, Embraer 190, 195 and Mitsubishi Regional Jet. There is a team established in the airline group which is tasked with evaluating the aircrafts.
Addis Ababa Bole International Airport’s attitude, which is 2400 meters above sea level, is a problem for performance of the engines. “The high altitude reduces the payload of the aircraft and we seriously consider the engine performance,” Tewolde noted.
Commenting on the Bombardier Cseries SC100 jet, Tewolde said that he was impressed with the performance of the aircraft and the swift take off. The cabin is spacious. It has a wide luggage compartment. The lavatory has a high ceiling. It is a very good airplane,” he furthered.
Vice President and General Manager CSeries at Bombardier Aerospace, Rob Dewar, on his part explained the Series can range 6000 kilometers and burns 35 percent less fuel than an Airbus or Boeing twin engine jet.
According to The Reporter, Ethiopian has currently 43 aircrafts on its order book. This includes 14 A350 XWB and 8 B787 Dreamliners.
Source: The Reporter
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