The Ethiopian Airlines, one of the fastest airliners in Africa, on Saturday resumed flying its Boeing 787 Dreamliner with flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital, to Nairobi of Kenya.

The Ethiopian Airlines has become the first carrier in the world to get its 787 Dreamliner aircraft back in the air, and to make the first commercial flight in the world after the grounding of the Dreamliners in mid January.

Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam and Boeing Vice President of Marketing Randy Tinseth were on the board of the flight.

The airline said it grounded its four Dreamliners on Jan. 17, following the directive issued by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority due to incidents related to battery issues On Japanese carriers.

The U.S. FAA last week certified solutions proposed by Boeing to the battery issues allowing Ethiopian Airlines and other operators to retrofit the new additional systems and resume flights with the Dreamliners, said a press statement from the company.

Boeing and Ethiopian engineers are implementing solutions certified by the U.S. FAA. Following the successful completion of the retrofitting work on the airplane and smooth test flight by the Ethiopian pilots, the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority approved the commercial flight resumption of Ethiopian Dreamliner. These solutions will be done on all four of Ethiopian Dreamliners one after the other, said the statement.

Tewolde Gebremariam said at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa before the plane taking off that "I am very happy on behalf of all the employees of the Ethiopian Airlines and on behalf of the Ethiopian people; I am very happy to see the airplane be back to the air now; and I am also very happy we are the first one."

Stating that Boeing has been working together with concerned bodies and customers over the last few months, Boeing Vice President of Marketing Randy Tinseth expressed excitement over seeing the aircraft be back in the skies. Endi

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)