ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopian Airlines agreed to buy as many as 20 of Boeing Co’s massive 777X aircraft, providing the coming jet with an important endorsement from one of Africa’s premier airlines. Mesfin Tasew, chief executive officer of Ethiopian Airlines Group, unveiled the latest deal Tuesday in Addis Ababa. More than half the aircraft in its current fleet are Boeing models, including 15 737 Max jets. Last year, the carrier announced it was ordering 11 of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliners and 20 of its 737 Max airplanes as part of a fleet overhaul. That long-standing relationship was strained after one of the workhorse 737 Max models crashed minutes after takeoff in 2019, after pilots battled a feature later linked to a faulty Boeing design.
