A consortium led by Ethiopian Airlines is the preferred bidder for shares in new Nigerian airline Nigeria Air, the country’s aviation minister said on Friday. The airline was one of President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2015 election campaign promises.

Ethiopian Airlines, the leading African flag carrier, on Wednesday reported a surge in profit for the last financial year, in sharp contrast to the ailing fortunes of other airlines in the region. The state-owned airline saw a 79 percent jump in revenue to $5 billion for 12 months to July while profit skyrocketed 90 percent to $937 million

Ethiopian Airlines Group, the flag carrier of Ethiopia, Africa’s largest airline group, has upsized four of its A350-900 on order to the largest variant of the A350 Family, the A350-1000, becoming Africa’s first customer for the aircraft.

From today, and for a period of four weeks, the airline has paused the four times weekly Manchester operation and reduced its daily flight to Heathrow to three weekly departures.

Boeing has insisted safety is at the core of its activities in response to the preliminary report into the crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 by the Ethiopian Accident Investigation Bureau.

Ethiopian transport minister, Dagmawit Moges, has said there are “clear similarities” between recent accidents involving Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air jets.