De Havilland Canada has delivered another two Dash 8-400s to Ethiopian Airlines, bringing to 30 the number of the turboprops received by Ethiopian and its affiliates.
The Canadian airframer announced in recent days that it handed over the two aircraft, which had serial numbers 4615 and 4617, according to De Havilland.
Ethiopian chief executive Tewolde GebreMariam attributes the Dash 8-400 as supporting “the cost-leadership strategy will rely on in our market, particularly in these unprecedented times during the Covid-19 pandemic”.
De Havilland parent Longview Aviation Capital purchased the Dash 8 programme from former owner Bombardier in June 2019. Longview placed the programme into its newly created De Havilland subsidiary.
At the time, De Havilland’s backlog of Dash 8-400s – the only remaining in-production Dash 8 variant – stood at 51 aircraft, according to previous FlightGlobal reporting.
That backlog now stands at 21 Dash 8-400s, according to the most-recent Cirium fleets data.
Carriers holding outstanding orders include Biman Bangladesh Airlines, Canadian aerial firefighting company Conair, Nigeria’s Elin Group, Ethiopian, Philippine Airlines and TAAG Angola Airlines, according to Cirium.
Ethiopian and several affiliated carriers, some part-owned by Ethiopian, operate Dash 8-400s. Those affiliated companies include Togo’s Asky, Chad-based Tchadia Airlines and Malawi Airlines, according to Cirium data.
Airlines globally have nearly 1,100 Dash 8s in storage or service, including 563 Dash 8-400s, Cirium data shows.
