Africa’s largest carrier, Ethiopian Airlines, has ordered up to 20 widebody Boeing aircraft. The purchase agreement states a firm order for eight 777-9s and options for up to twelve additional jets. With this order, Ethiopia’s flag carrier became the first buyer of the Boeing 777X in Africa.

The Boeing 777X is based on the 777 series blended with technologies from the 787 Dreamliner family. The 777-9 features new carbon fibre composite wings. Also, it is powered by engines that help deliver 10 per cent better fuel efficiency and operating costs than the closest rival. According to Boeing, the 777-9 can fly up to 13,510km (7,295 nautical miles) nonstop.

Over half of Ethiopian Airlines’ current fleet comprises Boeing aircraft, including 29 787 Dreamliners, 20 777s, three 767s, 27 next-gen 737s and 15 737 Max jets.

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Greece’s Aegean and Germany’s Eurowings have unveiled a new bilateral codeshare partnership to boost business for both. Under the agreement, select Aegean flights will also be bookable under Eurowings flight numbers. On the other hand, some Eurowings flights will also be available under Aegean flight numbers.

To begin with, Greece’s flag carrier will assign code A3 to direct services operated by Eurowings linking Heraklion (Crete) and Thessaloniki with Eurowings bases in Germany, Austria and Czechia. The German low-cost airline will also follow the same mantra, assigning a particular code to its Aegean flights that connect Athens and Thessaloniki with its bases in Germany and Czechia. The duo aims to gradually increase codesharing further in the future.

Pratt & Whitney and Icelandair have been doing business with each other for over eight decades. Extending that relationship further is a new deal. The airline has chosen Pratt & Whitney’s GTF engines to power up to 35 new Airbus A320neo family aircraft. The count comprises a mix of leased and bought A321XLRs and A321LRs. Icelandair has also opted for an EngineWise agreement for the long-term maintenance, repair and overhaul of the new engines. With this deal, Iceland’s flag carrier becomes a new GTF customer for the RTX-owned company.

Icelandair selected the GTF engines because they will reduce carbon emissions and fuel consumption by up to 30 per cent with the Airbus aircraft compared to the Boeing 757s they will replace. The first A321LRs should join the airline’s fleet next year, while the A32XLRs will start arriving in 2029. Icelandair currently operates DHC Dash 8 aircraft with Pratt & Whitney Canada PW100 and PW150 powerplants.

During the Singapore Airshow last month, Pratt & Whitney landed GTF engine deals with Cebu Pacific, JetSmart and Vietjet.

UAE’s national carrier, Etihad Airways, has announced an expansion of its service schedule for the summer season. The list includes the addition of two new destinations and an increase in weekly flights to five.

New routes, first. From June 15, 2024, Etihad will operate three seasonal weekly flights (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays) between Abu Dhabi, UAE, and Antalya, Turkey. The outbound service – EY 0539 – will depart from Abu Dhabi at 09:20 and arrive in Antalya at 13:00. The return flight – EY 0540 – will leave the Turkish tarmac at 14:30 and touch down in UAE’s capital at 19:45.

The other new route goes live on June 16, 2024. That’s a direct service between Abu Dhabi and Jaipur, India. Etihad will operate four weekly flights (Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays) to the capital city of Rajasthan state. Flight EY 0366 will depart from Abu Dhabi at 03:05 and land in Jaipur at 08:05. After nearly three hours, the return flight will leave Jaipur at 11:00 and arrive in Abu Dhabi at 13:00. All times mentioned for the new routes are local. An Airbus A320 will be operated for both services.

Etihad will operate three additional weekly flights to five destinations – Thiruvananthapuram, Amman, Cairo, Karachi and Colombo – from June 15, 2024. In the same order, their weekly flight count will increase to 10, 14, 24, 17 and 20. Earlier this year, the airline had announced a similar bump in weekly services to seven destinations across the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent.

Dubai-based carrier Emirates has announced that from May 1, 2024, it will restart daily flights to Cambodia’s capital – Phnom Penh. The service, with a stopover in Singapore, will use a Boeing 777-300ER in a three-class configuration. With space for 360 passengers, the aeroplane will boast 8 First Class private suites, 42 lie-flat seats in Business Class and 310 seats in Economy. And courtesy of this new service, Emirates SkyCargo will offer a freight capacity of over 300 tonnes per week.

The outbound flight – EK348 – will depart Dubai at 02:30 and land in Singapore at 14:05. After a halt of 1.5 hours, the aircraft will leave Singapore at 15:35 and arrive in Phnom Penh at 16:35. The return flight – EK349 – will leave the Cambodian tarmac at 20:50 and touch down in Singapore at 23:50. Then, at 01:40, the last leg starts and ends in Dubai at 04:55. All times mentioned above are as per the location.

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