Boeing customer Ethiopian Airlines took a brand-new 737-300ER home with something extra Friday: 7,300 pounds of humanitarian supplies for an Ethiopian hospital and school.
The Jan. 24 flight from Everett is one of 19 such humanitarian deliveries to Ethiopia. The carrier has transported about 150,000 pounds of supplies.
(Photo courtesy of Boeing)
This makes Ethiopian the most vigorous participant in Boeing’s Humanitarian Delivery Flights program, which began in 1992.
“Ethiopian Airlines attaches the highest importance to its corporate social responsibility and its duty to give back to the community it serves,” said Tewolde Gebremariam, Ethiopian Airlines chief executive officer, in a statement. “We pledge to continue such humanitarian flights and to do even more in the future, as we expand our fleet.”
Boeing has worked with nearly 50 different carriers worldwide to arrange more than 150 humanitarian flights. These have included Emirates, Qatar Airways, Pakistan International Airlines and Philippines Airlines, all of which allowed their new planes to be loaded with relief supplies for the first flight from Everett after delivery.
Over this period, these aircraft have carried more than 1 million pounds of humanitarian supplies, said Boeing spokeswoman Mary Hanson.
On Dec. 5, for example, a new Philippine Airlines 777-300ER carried 40,000 pounds of tarps and ropes to the Philippines, in partnership with Washington-based relief organization World Vision, after Typhoon Haiyan hit the region.
Friday’s Ethiopian Airlines flight was a collaboration with Seattle Alliance Outreach and Evangelical Africa Mission Outreach. The plane was loaded with medical equipment for the Black Lion Hospital in Ethiopia, and with more than 100 computers donated by the Bellevue School District for Ethiopia’s Goba High School.
Boeing pays for loading the aircraft after they are handed off to customers at the Everett delivery center.
“This has been a great opportunity for us to collaborate on something that is very important,” Hanson said. “It has provided a lot of good for people around the world, and we’re very proud of that.”
Source: Business Journal
