Ethiopian Airlines
flag-carrier airline of Ethiopia
Ethiopian Airlines (Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ አየር መንገድ, romanised: Ye-Ītyōṗṗyā āyer menged), formerly Ethiopian Air Lines (EAL), is the flag carrier of Ethiopia, and is wholly owned by the country's government. EAL was founded on 21 December 1945 and commenced operations on 8 April 1946, expanding to international flights in 1951. The firm became a share company in 1965 and changed its name from Ethiopian Air Lines to Ethiopian Airlines.
The airline has been a member of the International Air Transport Association since 1959 and of the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) since 1968. Ethiopian is a Star Alliance member, having joined in December 2011. The company slogan is 'The New Spirit of Africa.' Ethiopian's hub and headquarters are at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, from where it serves a network of 155 passenger destinations—22 of them domestic—and 68 freighter destinations. The airline has secondary hubs in Togo and Malawi. Ethiopian Airlines is Africa's largest airline in terms of passengers carried, destinations served, fleet size, and revenue. Ethiopian Airlines is also the world's fourth-largest airline by the number of countries served. Ethiopian Airlines is a subsidiary of the Ethiopian Airlines Group, which is wholly owned by Ethiopian Investment Holdings, the sovereign wealth fund of Ethiopia.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Ethiopian Airlines” as flag-carrier airline of Ethiopia. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as flag-carrier airline of Ethiopia. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q245233. VIAF identifies the subject as 181654595. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1945, 1946, 1951 and 1965.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Ethiopian Airlines”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Ethiopian Airlines primary sources, Ethiopian Airlines archive and Ethiopian research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ethiopian Airlines”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Ethiopian Airlines” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.