Ethiopian Airlines MRO subsidiary company will be ET Technical. By commercializing its maintenance and engineering department Et Technical will be a separate business entity that will provide line maintenance, repair and overhaul service to ET domestic, ET International and other domestic and international carriers. ET’s MRO centre is certified by the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority, FAA, Boeing and Pratt and Whitney. The MRO centre has been providing repair and overhaul services to major African and Middle Eastern carriers.
In 2006, Ethiopian inaugurated a new maintenance hangar at his hub the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport built at a cost of $6.4 million by a Chinese construction firm called CATIC. With the capacity to handle aircraft as big as the B747, the hangar covers 7,200 sq.m. As Ethiopian placed firm orders for 37 aircraft-10 B787, 10 B737-800, 12 A350XWB and 5B777-it is planning to build another maintenance hangar that will accommodate the new fleet. Ethiopian recently acquired six Bombardier Q400 aircraft and two more are coming by the end of this year. Staffed by more than 550 certified technicians and engineers, Ethiopian MRO center provides maintenance and overhaul services for B767, 757,737,727,707, DH6, ATR42, Fokker50 and L-100. Ethiopian provides MRO services to 67 airlines from Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
An Ethiopian industry analyst lauded the development strategy developed by the management of Ethiopian Airlines. The analyst said that commercializing the various business units such as the MRO and cargo service is the order of the day the global airline industry adding that Egypt Air and South Africa Airways have done the same. Egypt Air will be hard pushed for market share against Ethiopian Airlines not to mention those further afield. Aviation News understands that many European Low Cost Carriers will be taking a strong interest in any Ethiopian Airlines MRO commercial venture. The Ethiopian flight school and the aircraft maintenance technicians training centre will also be upgraded into an African aviation academy that will operate as a separate business unit.