Ethiopian’s First Freighter

From the Cargo Facts Archives!

Since we brought you one of Ethiopian’s newer MD11’s this week, here’s a look back at another Ethiopian freighter.

It is August 23, 1990, and ET-AJS (msn: 24845) is on the testing ramp at Boeing Field, which at that time was still the test & pre-delivery facility for both the 757 and 737 (now that the 757 is no more, it handles only hordes of 737s and the 787 flight test program). The aircraft has just had test registration N3519L scrubbed. Tomorrow (August 24, 1990) it will leave BFI for Addis Ababa.

This regal looking paint scheme dates back to the early days of the airline, which was founded by Emperor Haile Selassie I with assistance from TWA in 1945.

The carrier has been flying the aircraft ever since. In 2006, the carrier converted one its passenger 757s into a second freighter, a 757PCF from Precision Conversions.

This 757 delivery was the first of a modern jet freighter for the carrier, though it had used prop-driven freighters as early as the 1940s, once had a pair of Lockheed Hercules Freighters, and also used 707-320C’s at one time.

Strangely enough, this month (November, 2010) there is actually another Ethiopian narrow body on the BFI ramp in this very same spot, a 737-800, awaiting delivery while its big sister, the first Ethiopian 777-200 gets all of the media attention, complete with an inaugural one-time only flight from SEA to ADD with a stop at Dulles.