According to a story published by Addis Ababa, based The Reporter, Ethiopian Airlines is set to join Star Alliance, the World's first and largest airline alliance, by early next year. The paper cited a statement from Ethiopian Airlines public relations office.
nazret.com has contacted both Ethiopian Airlines and Star Alliance to confirm the story and it now appears that the Reporter story is misleading as it suggests a done deal. In an email we received from Ethiopian Airlines, it said, "Ethiopian is still under discussion to join star alliance and no date has been fixed". Star Alliance responded to our question and it denied the report saying, "We would like to inform you that Ethiopian Airlines has not been invited to join Star Alliance and also its not joining with star alliance next year."
But today, Air Transport World (ATW) reports that Star Alliance is holding exploratory talks with Ethiopian Airlines and will discuss the African carrier's potential membership at its chief executive board meeting today in Brussels. Star Alliance CEO told ATW that decision on ET is not "imminent," he stressed, and an announcement can be expected in the first half of 2010. So we will find out if Ethiopian will join by mid 2010.
For several years now, there have been many reports about Ethiopian airlines joining Star Alliance. In June 2007, Flight Global wrote an article titled "Ethiopian Airlines eyes Star Alliance". At the time, Ethiopian Airlines chief executive Girma Wake said a new codeshare with Lufthansa, signed in June, brings it "a step nearer" to joining Star. But he adds: "We have yet to start the process" of applying for membership. "It's not something we've decided but we are considering," he was quoted as saying. "We would like to do that [join Star]. We would like to do it in steps."
Ethiopian airlines has recently strengthened its code-share agreement with Lufthansa, a Star Alliance founding member. In addition to the Lufthansa deal, Ethiopian codeshares with Star Alliance member South African Airways (SAA) and has interline agreements with Star Alliance members Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways International.
The Star Alliance network was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer worldwide reach. Overall, the Star Alliance network offers 19,700 daily flights to 1,077 airports in 175 countries. Member airlines include Lufthansa, United, South African, EgyptAir, Continental, Air Canada, Singapore, Thai and Turkish.
Ethiopian Airlines has 35 new airplanes on order direct from the manufacturers. Including the recent orders of five B777-200LR and twelve A350-900, Ethiopian has also on order ten Boeing B787 and eight Bombardier aircraft. These investments will also enable Ethiopian to operate one of the youngest fleet in Africa with better comfort and efficiency.
Ethiopian Airlines currently operates 36 aircraft, comprising of ten B767-300ER, eight B757-200ER, two B757-260 F, two B747F, two MD-11F, five B737-700, two B737-800 and five Fokker 50 aircraft.
Source:nazret.com/
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