Total cargo volumes carried by Ethiopian reached 357,544 tonnes last year, reaffirming its leading position amongst freight airlines on the continent. Growth is expected to continue, as this year sees a state-of-the-art freight terminal at Addis Ababa airport launch operations in April
Following the first phase of construction, Ethiopian’s new facility will have the capacity to handle an annual throughput of 600,000 tonnes of cargo, including the storage and handling of temperature sensitive items. After the second construction phase, the total yearly capacity will increase to 1.2m tonnes of cargo. Upon completion, the building will be Africa’s largest cargo facility. Simultaneously, Ethiopian’s existing warehouse will remain in operation, offering additional capacity of 250,000 tonnes a year.
The African airline also plans to expand its network in 2017, reportedly adding routes to India, South America and China to its network of 36 global destinations. Alongside the addition of these four freighter destinations will be the introduction of two new freighters to the fleet in 2017, a Boeing 767-300F and a 737-800F, with the latter to be deployed on short- and medium-haul routes.
