40^th Anniversary of Ethiopian Airlines from C-47 to B-767 Forty Years in World Aviation

Ethiopia is a country of spectacular mountain, deep gorges, of vertical cliffs and green valleys, of volcanic deserts and gentle lakes. For centuries its impenetrability has isolated, from each other and from the outside world. The only way to travel across Ethiopian’s unique landscape has been on foot or by mule, or in the eastern deserts and escarpment with long, slow camel trains.

In the eighteenth century, the Scottish explorer James Bruce spent many dangerous and arduous months travelling the highlands in search of the source of the Nile, and enjoying adventures so fantastic that when his travels were eventually published, no European would believe them and in the nineteenth century the great Ethiopian Emperor. Tewodros II built the first road from his capital Debretabor to final stronghold Maqdala under the most difficult circumstance imaginable. Simultaneously, the British commander, sir Charles Napier led his soldiers from masawa on the on the Red Sea coast on an epic march across Ethiopia to the towering fortress of Maqdala, and took with him a troop elephant.

A less spectacular, but more practical journey was undertaken by the first American envoy to Ethiopia in 1903, when he left the torrid port of Djibouti on the Sea Coast for the cool eucalyptus shaded capital of Ababa. Changing the camels for the mules of the trains halfway along his route, he completed the tri 12 days. Travelers who came after him were to conditions less arduous.

Twenty years after construction had begun, the -way, the outcome of a concession given by Emperor Menelik to the French, was completed in 1917. It linked bouti with Addis Ababa and the train came to replace camel as the ship of the desert. Twelve years late French Potez Airocraft, the first to fly into Ethiopia, three hours to make the journey which Skinner had been able to accomplish in 12 days.

Now, with Ethiopian Airlines jets, Addis Ababa Djibouti can be completed in just forty-five minutes. The little French plane which hopped swiftly over days exhausting travel through arid desert and bush showed Ethiopians the enormous potential of air travel in such diverse and inaccessible country. Here was a way of living the capital to the country-side, of defeating distance and stretching time, a way to bring the people closely. Both to each other and to the outside world, a way to show over mountains and set up deserts, which for century had been insurmountable obstacles. In 1946, after the war and the Italian occupation, the dream was realized. An Ethiopian Airlines with a pioneer fleet of Live Dough C-47’s better known as the remarkable DC-3’s was established, with the assistance of TWA. 

The expansion of ETHIOPIA’s network of services has been steady over these four decades. The European service was extended to Athens, Frankfurt, Rome and London. Across Africa, Ethiopian Airlines’ jets span the 2,700 miles journey from Nairobi to Accra in just under six hours flying time, and cut across the Sahel linking Addis Ababa with Niamey, Bamako and Dakar. Stretching eastwards, the 5,238-mile trip from Addis Ababa to Beijing with one u stop only in Bombay, is now operated once a fortnight. Domestically, over 40 local airports are served by regular Ethiopian Airlines flights, which cuts down days of tedious travel to a few Hours.

Within years of its brave beginnings, the airline Ailed the jet age. In 1962, the airline purchased its first two Boeing 720B jets and opened the new Addis Ababa International Airport. The days when incoming planes had to buzz the landing strip to announce their arrival thus came to an end. With the most up-to-date communication operational headquarters in Addis Ababa is Capable of being in direct verbal contact with any of its aircraft throughout the network, a fleet which now includes two 767 Boeing Jets, three 720B’s, two 707’s three 727’s, two Dash-5′, nine DC-3′ and sit twin otters on Me local routes.

The value of Ethiopian Airlines as a lifeline between People and their markets had long been, of its established but now the airline is increasingly proud of its development both in technical services and in staff training. In particular, it places the biggest priority on the airlines of Ethiopian personnel. In those early days, the airlines most senior pilots were recruited from the Ethiopian Air Force, established in the 1930’s. But by 1950’s the airline was beginning to train its own Pilots, and in 1964, it was proud to establish its own Pilot training center, which has now been selected by the Africa civil Aviation commission to train pilot from the pilots, English-speaking countries of Ethiopians and 42 from other speaking countries. Ethiopian airlines now employs 152, pilots, all of whom are Ethiopians.

In 1967, the Airline opened the Technical Training center which has again been selected by the African Civil aviation Commission to train aviation technicians from English speaking countries of Africa. So far, the center has guaranteed peaking 1069 technicians of whom 400 are from other African Countries, the Middle East and Europe.

New in its fortieth year of dependable service, the airline that was hailed as the ‘Wings of Africa’, still puts its passengers first in `Going to great lengths to please’.