MANUFACTURING OF BOEING 737 MAX AIRPLANE FACILITY INAUGURATED IN ETHIOPIA

Ethiopian Airlines and Geven-SkyTecno have inaugurated a state-of-the-art facility for the manufacturing of Insulation Blankets for Boeing 737 MAX airplanes.

The facility is part of a Boeing agreement (BSCA) between The Boeing Company, Geven-Skytecno, and Ethiopian Airlines.

The new joint venture company of Ethiopian and Geven-SkyTecno is based in Addis Ababa with a primary manufacturing facility at Bole Airport.

Ethiopian Airlines holds 51% and SkyTecno 49% of the stake of the newly established company, named ‘Ethiopian Sky Technologies.

“We are glad to unveil a modern manufacturing facility of Ethiopian Sky Technologies at our home base, Addis Ababa,” said Mesfin Tasew, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines Group.

“As part of our Vision to develop the Aerospace Manufacturing Industry in Ethiopia, the partnership with Geven-SkyTecno takes our capability to the next level.”

Ethiopian Airlines and SkyTecno invested in the blanket manufacturing equipment to deliver tailor-made solutions for Boeing 737 MAX airplanes.

The parties as per their commitment are jointly manufacturing the products in Italy and Ethiopia as a supplier to The Boeing Company.

Geven-SkyTecno has been contributing its process technology proficiency and manufacturing know-how. It is also responsible for speeding up the industrialization, qualification processes, and training skills of the Joint Venture.

“Our manufacturing excellence combined with our expertise in process technology, industrial efficiency, and world-class distribution capabilities will provide our customers with best-in-class insulation solutions,” said Alberto Veneruso, Managing Director of Geven-SkyTecno.

“Furthermore,” he said, “Geven-SkyTecno provides the JV with a team of highly trained technical engineers with unparalleled experience meeting the demand for similar products from world airlines and OEMs.”

Manager of Group Alliances & Commercial Cooperation at the airlines, Henock Lemma is leading Ethiopian Sky Technologies PLC as Chief Executive Officer.

The company is now manufacturing and delivering aerospace products to the terms of the Agreement and the stringent requirements of the Aerospace Industry.

“A Boost to Ethiopian capability’

Ethiopian CEO Mesfin said the airlines already “have a very well established MRO capability with an excellent track record of providing aircraft maintenance”.

“We can leverage this capability and experience to further develop our Aerospace Manufacturing capability and eventually make it one of the key Strategic Business Units of the Airline.”

“We are happy that we have gone into this tri-partite relationship with Geven-SkyTecno and Boeing and that we started manufacturing and exporting the Aircraft Thermo-Acoustic Insulation Blankets for the 737 MAX,” the CEO said.

“We are keen to expand the scope of activities to other aerospace products to the mutual benefit of all parties”.

The partnership is also expected to enhance Ethiopia’s manufacturing infrastructure and international trade connections.

SOURCE: EthiopiaMonitor