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Ethiopian Airlines is seeking to establish regional hubs in Southern and central Africa according to Tewolde Gebremariam, Chief Executive of the airline.

The airline management is in the process of holding talks with the governments of Zambia, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo to assess the possibilities of setting up  regional hubs in these countries.

A delegation from Ethiopia traveled to Zambia last week to hold discussion with officials in Zambia on the possibility of establishing a hub in Lusaka. Ethiopia expects the Zambian capital to become its Southern hub particularly since that nation does not currently have a national flag carrier according to Tewolde.

Zimbabwe Tourism Authority assigned Ethiopian Airlines as the official carrier of the Authority’s international customers and journalists who would fly to attend the Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo at the Zimbabwe International Exhibition Center. The airline will be flying from London to Joshua Mqabuko International Airport via Addis Ababa carrying visitors of the expo which will be held from 13 to 15 October this year.

Ethiopian Airlines has selected Rockwell Collins to provide the full suite of avionics equipment for its new and growing fleet of Boeing 777s, which currently includes 10 aircraft. The selection includes Rockwell Collins’ MultiScan™ Threat Detection System, GLU-925 Multi-Mode Receiver (MMR), Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS II) and SATCOM.

Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopia’s flag carrier, sold five Fokker 50 aircraft to Fortran Aviation Limited a Singaporean company.

The Fokker 50 aircraft were sold in the continued efforts to modernize the airlines said Tewolde Gebremariam Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines.

The Fokker 50s will be operated by a new airline, Pacific Royale, explained Tewolde. The first Fokker was to be delivered by the end of December according to Tewolde.

Ethiopian Airlines said that it had completed a study to commence construction of a mega project called “Airport City” in Oromia Regional State in the 2022/2023 fiscal year. The project will include modern hotels, duty free shopping centers and, a cargo logistics center and take USD 5 billion to be completed.