Civil Aviation Authority

Ethiopian Airlines recently celebrated the maiden flight of its first woman captain.Amsale Gualu Endegnanew, when she took off on her first flight from the left-hand seat on the flight deck of a Bombardier Q-400 aircraft from Addis Ababa.

She flew the service to Gondar, then to Axum and finally returned back to Addis Ababa after a total of 3,6 flight hours.

Captain Amsale joined the Ethiopian Airlines pilot Training School on July, 10, 2000 and started her career as first officer on November 26, 2002.Since then; she has trained and worked on Fokker-50, Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft as first officer. Captain Amsale has been able to complete all the necessary training requirements and passed through rigorous checks to gain her fourth stripe.

She had a total of 4475 flight hours under her belt when she became the commander of her flight.

Ato Tewolde G. Mariam, designated chief executive officer of the airline, welcomed her at an Addis Ababa International Airport function on her return flight from Axum ,saying: "We congratulate Captain Amsale on her outstanding achievement. She deserves the recognition as she has demonstrated tremendous dedication to reach the pinnacle."

Air news for October 2010 on aviation matters in Africa, Europe, Middle East Africa, Asia and United States of America. This article is reporting on new development for the Expansion of Ethiopian Airlines and the prospects for the now closed Durban International Airport being re-opened as an aviation facility.

Ethiopian Airlines to Embark On Major Ground-Bases Projects.

Ethiopian Airlines is soon to embark on a four star hotel construction project near its head office in Addis Ababa, as well as a number of other ground-based undertakings.

The airline has already acquired a plot of land in close proximity to its hub, Addis Ababa Bole International Airport. It has hired a Chinese construction firm, CATIC, which will construct the airlines first hotel that would primarily serve the carriers passengers.

Ethiopian CEO, Girma Wake, told word air news that the management decided to build its own hotel due to the hassle the airline faces in finding adequate decent rooms for transit passengers.

"Addis Ababa is the political capital of Africa where international organizations like the AU and UNECA HQS are found. The city frequently hosts major international conferences, and sometimes it is difficult for us to find enough rooms in standard hotels for our guests," Wake said.

The hotel will have 300 rooms, restaurants, bars, conference hails, swimming pool and all other required facilities. The estimated cost of the hotel is us$30-million and construction will begin at the end of this year. According to Wake construction may take three years to complete.

Also on Ethiopians development program me is finalizing preparations to construct a new maintenance hangar that will accommodate the Boeing Dream liner aircraft that the airline is expecting to take delivery of early in the New Year. Ethiopian has firm orders for ten B737-8 jetliners. Originally, delivery was slated for 2008-2010.

The Ethiopian MRO centre which has three hangars (the third one was inaugurated in 2006) is capable of providing maintenance and overhaul services on B767,757,737,707,727,DH6,ATR42,Fokker50 and L100 aircraft. Since the early 1960s, the MRO centre, licensed by the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority and FAA, has been providing technical services for other airlines.

Mesfin Tasew, maintenance and engineering department head of Ethiopia, told world Air news that the acquisition of the Dreamliner had prompted the airline to expand its MRO centre."We also need to boost our third party MRO business," Tasew said, adding that the design of the new and fourth hangar was being finalized.

In 2009 Ethiopian placed orders for 12 Airbus A350-900XWB,five Boeing 777-200LR,ten B737-800s and eight Bombardier Q400s .The airline has already received four of the Q400s aircraft and the remaining ones will be delivered by the end of this year.

Ethiopian currently operates a total of 40 aircraft-ten B767-300s, eight B757-200s,two B757-260Fs,two MD-11Fs,five B737-700NGs,two B737-800Ws,four Q400s and five Fokker 50s.

The airline is also planning to build a new cargo terminal at its hub to boost the capacity of the 1400 square metre freight terminal it opened in 2006.

Wake said the surge in the country's flower and meat export had prompted Ethiopian to build a new cargo terminal."Our cargo business is growing and we need a new facility that will accommodate the growing demand," Wake added.

In the 2008 -2009 fiscal Ethiopian hauled 101000 tons of cargo, representing an increase of 13% compared to that of the previous year."Ethiopian is an airline which is growing at a rate of 20% and we need to augment the growth", said Wake.

The airline is also planning to build a new HQ building and catering facility at its hub in Addis Ababa.