Ethiopian Airlines recently took delivery of a 737-800BCF on lease from ICBC Leasing, marking the fiftieth 737-800BCF conversion for the Shandong Taikoo Aircraft Engineering Company Limited (STAECO) facility in Jinan (TNA).
The 2007-vintage unit 35212 (ex-Air Madagascar) is the first 737-800BCF for Ethiopian and was removed from the FAA registry on May 26 after arriving in Addis Ababa (ADD) on May 2 for inspections by the airline.
Ethiopian already operates three 737-800SFs — two on lease from AerCap and one from GA Telesis. — and is growing its freighter fleet with an increasing diversity of aircraft types.
This is the first 737-800BCF ICBC has converted with Boeing, the lessor acquired two ex-China Southern units (30786 and 30787) from BBAM that were already in operation with China Postal Airlines, joining multiple other 737NG lessors that emerged in 2021.
Apart from the 737s, the carrier currently has nine 777Fs but will soon have two 767-300BDSFs and recently ordered five more 777Fs.
Ethiopian also became the second known customer to commit to Boeing’s new 777-8F after announcing a memorandum of understanding for five in March this year.
