Ethiopian takes Boeing 787 Dreamliner home

Ethiopian Airlines received its first Boeing 787-8 from the manufacturer during a ceremony in Seattle on 14 August.

The delivery is the first of 10 787s that Ethiopian will receive through 2016. The airline is the first outside of Japan to receive the type.

"Today begins the first day in a new era of flying for our passengers and brings us even closer to our vision for the future," says Tewolde GebreMariam, chief executive of Ethiopian, in a statement. "This airplane is going to move Ethiopian Airlines to the forefront of aviation leadership around the globe."

The aircraft is registered ET-AOQ and has manufacturer's serial number 34745, according to the Flightglobal Ascend database. It uses GEnx-1B64 engines and was financed with a US Export-Import Bank loan guaranteed by JP Morgan.

The carrier will fly the widebody twinjet to Washington Dulles airport on 15 August and on to Addis Ababa on 16 August, according to Boeing.

Ethiopian will begin daily flights between Washington and Addis Ababa using the 787 on 20 September, replacing a Boeing 777-200LR, according to the Airline Route website,

Ethiopian's 787 has 270 seats in a two-class configuration, with 24 in "cloud nine" business and 246 in economy.
http://www.flightglobal.com