Oh and by the way I'm with the others who think that the Ethiopian Govt airline has surely got better things to do with their money currently than go for the latest aviation technology.
Lots of nations pumped money into their airlines over the last few decades. UK, France, Greece and Italy come to mind. One wonders why folks in the first world wait till after their national champions are up and running full steam to hobble third world competition. It's not like there are no hungry people in the first world either! And what of the benefits of aviation to the Ethiopian economy? You would think it wouldn't be too hard to think of them on an aviation bulletin board. Why should they have to try to provide aviation services using high maintenence, inefficient equipment? How do you know that the equipment is not paying for itself directly, or indirectly by bringing in businessmen, tourists and aid workers? Or should that job be reserved for the national champions of first world countries?
Now if Boeing had GIVEN the Ethiopians one of the last 767s, say, that would be altogether more meritorious. It's the sort of unwise expenditure third world countries get talked into by overbearing western salesmen which then leads to debt that cripples the country and gives no benefit whatsoever to the local population, but which, in parallel moves this week, we in the west are then expected to write off as if the money had been borrowed to feed the starving population.
First you propose to give away other people's money (i.e. Boeing's), then you complain when
your own elected officials give away your own money? Maybe you should send your own money to Ethiopia, or maybe you should be writing your elected officials, instead of writing on prune, at least then you have some chance of getting your way. Sorry for the vitriol, but you are making very little sense to me.