Boeing
has delivered its first 777-300ER aircraft in more than two years, as Ethiopian Airlines welcomed such aircraft of the type in December.
First 777-300ER delivery since April 2022
According to ch-aviation data, the 777-300ER, registered as ET-BBG, flew from Victorville Southern California Logistics Airport (VCV) to Addis Ababa Bole Airport (ADD) on December 9, arriving in Africa on December 10.
The flight marked the first 777-300ER delivery since April 2022, when Boeing handed over three aircraft of the type to Thai Airways
(THAI), with the trio registered as HS-TTA, HS-TTB, and HS-TTC.
|
Boeing’s last 777-300ER deliveries |
HS-TTA |
HS-TTB |
HS-TTC |
|
First flight date |
January 26, 2021 |
January 22, 2021 |
February 27, 2022 |
|
Delivery date |
April 5, 2022 |
April 5, 2022 |
April 22, 2022 |
Ethiopian Airlines
introduced the 777-300ER into service on December 12, when the widebody jet operated a flight from Addis Ababa to Dubai International Airport (DXB), a route that the aircraft had flown on exclusively before stopping flights altogether on December 14.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
On that day, the aircraft departed on its fourth flight of the day with another itinerary from the Ethiopian capital to Dubai. However, around 20 minutes into flight ET612, the 777-300ER
began turning back to Addis Ababa.
As it continued flying toward its origin airport, the flight crew began squawking 7700, indicating a general emergency onboard the aircraft. The 777-300ER landed at the airport around 55 minutes after departure.
The Aviation Herald reported that air traffic control (ATC) audio indicated that the pilots reported a problem inside the cargo hold and told the local controllers after landing that an evacuation was in progress.
The aircraft has remained at Addis Ababa since the incident with no scheduled flights in the next few days, Flightradar24 records showed.
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Not taken up by China Southern Airlines
Nevertheless, ET-BBG is not a new airframe that Boeing has built in the past few months. Instead, China Southern Airlines
never accepted the delivery of the aircraft, which operated its first flight on January 21, 2020.
Planespotters.net data showed that the 777-300ER had been stored at Victorville between March 22, 2022, and December 9, 2024, with the Ethiopian carrier equipping the widebody jet with 28 business class, 28 premium economy, and 305 economy class seats.
Photo: Vytautas Kielaitis | Shutterstock
The site also indicated that China Southern Airlines was supposed to take delivery of the aircraft, which was supposed to be registered as B-20E7. Older pictures on X, formerly known as Twitter, showed the 777-300ER painted in the Chinese carrier’s livery.
Later pictures, supposedly taken in February 2022, showed the 777-300ER being placed in long-term storage with its cockpit and engines being sealed to avoid any foreign object debris (FOD) damage.
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Small fleet of 777-300ERs
Ch-aviation records showed that in addition to ET-BBG, Ethiopian Airlines only has four other 777-300ER aircraft: ET-APX, ET-APY, ET-ASK, and ET-ASL. All four were delivered between November 2013 and June 2015 and were ordered by the Ethiopian carrier.
In addition, the airline has six 777-200LR
and ten 777F
aircraft in its fleet. In March, Ethiopian Airlines ordered 20 777Xs, with the purchase deal being split between eight firm and 12 optional orders, following up the deal it made with Boeing at the Dubai Airshow in 2023.
Then, the airline and manufacturer shook hands on an agreement to buy up to 67 737 MAX (20 firm, 21 options) and 787 (11 firm, 15 options) aircraft.
Photo: Great Circle Map
Nevertheless, Cirium’s Diio Mi airline planning system data showed that in December, the African carrier has scheduled 40 weekly flights with its 777-300ER fleet, including routes from Addis Ababa to Dubai, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (CAN), Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO), Zanzibar Abeid Amani Karume International Airport (ZNZ), Abuja Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (ABV), Kinshasa N’djili International Airport (FIH), and Jeddah King Abdulaziz International Airport (JED).
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