Ethiopian Airlines inaugurates Boeing 787 simulator
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – The Ethiopian Airlines, one of the fastest growing airlines in Africa, has inaugurated Boeing 787 simulator, which is the first in kind on the continent.
The inauguration of Ethiopian’s B787 simulator took place on the sideline of the 24th Africa Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) Conference and Exhibition, which was wrapped up on Thursday in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.
The three-day event convened here in the capital of the East African nation has attracted aviation MRO suppliers and stakeholders around the globe, whereby about 200 participants attended the Conference and about 50 companies in the Exhibition promoting their businesses in the aviation industry.
The Africa Aviation MRO Conference and Exhibition is an annual event aiming at promoting the aviation industry in Africa, said Nick Fadugba, CEO of African Aviation Services Limited, and former Secretary General of African Airlines Association.
Participants of the Conference on Tuesday visited the newly installed Ethiopian’s B787 simulator and that of Q- 400 Bombardier aircraft.
They have also made tours to the airline’s new hangar as well as to the aviation academy and MRO facilities.
Having the newly installed B787 simulator at the airline’s facility has number one advantage of training its pilots here by cutting huge cost, which the airline spends on training pilots abroad, said Yohannes Hailemariam, Vice President of Flight Operations at the Ethiopian Airlines.
He told reporters that the Airlines also gets revenue by training pilots from Africa or other parts of the world.
“The simulator we just launched is the 787 simulator and it is the only kind in Africa. It will enable us to train all pilots in all equipment whether for Africa or other parts of the world, especially on the 787 since there are very few simulators in the world, it will put us in a position to train many pilots from anywhere in the world,” said Yohannes.
Ethiopian is currently implementing a 15-year strategic plan dubbed Vision 2025 that will see it become the leading airline group in Africa.
Ethiopian is implementing its Vision 2025 with seven business units including, international passenger service, regional service, cargo, MRO, aviation academy, in-flight catering service, and ground service. Enditem
Source: Xinhua
