Ethiopian Airlines (ET, Addis Ababa International) will construct a facility for the production of aircraft parts in a USD15 million joint venture with Boeing announced by the country's state-owned investment agency Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC).
The project - which also involves the EIC and Ethiopia's Industry Parks Development Corporation - entails the construction of a manufacturing facility on a four-hectare site in Addis Ababa's Kilinto Industrial Park covering "various aircraft parts such as aircraft thermo-acoustic insulation blankets, electrical wire harnesses, and others," the EIC said in a statement on social media.
The EIC said the project forms part of Ethiopian Airlines' "manufacturing plan that was started in 2009", and would create 300 jobs.
Ethiopian Airlines and Boeing were not immediately available for comment. The EIC did not disclose when the project would start nor which aircraft types were involved.
According to Ethiopia's Fana Broadcasting Corporation (FBC), Chief Executive Officer Mesfin Tasew said the project would help generate much needed foreign currency.
Ethiopian Airlines has been producing seat-to-seat wire harnesses for all Boeing commercial aircraft programmes since 2009 in line with the airline's Vision 2025 business plan to restructure its maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) division into a strategic business unit with new capabilities. In 2022, Ethiopian Airlines partnered with Geven-SkyTecno to manufacture thermo-acoustic insulation blankets for the B737 MAX.
The two companies' relationship spans more than 60 years. Ethiopian Airlines currently operates a fleet dominated by Boeing aircraft including B737s, B767s, B777s, and B787s, according to the ch-aviation fleets module.
