Ethiopian Airlines Group and the Boeing company have signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on positioning Ethiopia as an aviation hub for Africa.
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Building on the two parties’ seventy years of shared history in aviation, the MoU aims at positioning Ethiopia as Africa’s aviation hub “Ethiopia for Africa”.
Boeing has recognized Ethiopian as a global aviation leader in the continent.
The MoU is indicative of Boeing and Ethiopian Airlines interest to establish a mutually beneficial world class aviation partnership.
To realize their shared vision, Ethiopian and Boeing have agreed to work in partnership in four areas of strategic collaboration namely: Industrial Development, Advanced Aviation Training, Educational Partnership, and Leadership Development in a span of three years.
To this effect, joint multidisciplinary teams have been established to implement the strategic partnership and important milestones have already been registered.
Mr. Tewolde GebreMariam, Group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines said, “I am very much thrilled not only to sign this historic MoU with our long-standing aviation partner, Boeing but also to the implementation of milestones.
"We have been working in collaboration with Boeing on different large-scale projects in aviation for more than 70 years to serve the continent of Africa and this partnership expands and builds our capability in multiple fields.
"I have firm conviction that with our dedication in its implementation, the MoU will successfully attain its goal of positioning Ethiopia as the continent’s aviation hub.
"We highly value the critical role of our American partner companies in accomplishing our goals and we will continue to work with key American aviation players like Boeing, GE, Pratt and Whitney and Collins Aerospace etc… in our journey towards excellence in aviation”
Boeing is committed to developing Ethiopia’s manufacturing capability and aftermarket aviation service.
Through this MoU, Boeing and Ethiopian will partner to advance capabilities to compete globally.
They seek to build a 21st century pipeline for aviation careers in Ethiopia.
They will collaborate with highly qualified educational institutions and aviation industry partners to create specialized learning and development programs to meet workforce demands.
Boeing and Ethiopian will also work together to develop current and future generations of leaders in Ethiopia for Africa. ■