Ethiopian wins “Decade of Airline Excellence Awards”

Addis Ababa, December 1, 2020 (FBC) -Ethiopian Airlines (Ethiopian), the Largest Aviation Group in Africa, has won the “Decade of Airline Excellence Awards.”

The award is a recognition for the incredible achievement the airline made through a challenging time in the aviation industry, according to FlightGlobal.

Operating in an incredibly challenging region for airlines, Ethiopian evolved over the decade from a national carrier to the first true pan-African airline, based on a strategy that leveraged its hub in Addis Ababa and strategic equity investments in smaller national African operators.

All the while it deployed a modern fleet and progressive business approaches, leading to some impressive financial returns. It recorded an eight-fold increase in revenues and a six-fold rise in profitability over the decade.

By the end of the decade, the airline commanded the lion’s share of the pan-African network, having overtaken Dubai as the biggest transfer hub for long-haul travel to Africa in 2018.

That was driven by a fleet strategy befitting a world-class long-haul airline, with Ethiopian becoming only the second global operator of the Boeing 787 in 2012, and Africa’s first Airbus A350 operator in 2016.

Ethiopian’s corporate strength was tested to the limits with the crash of one of its Boeing 737 Max jets in March 2019 – the incident that prompted the global grounding of the type.

The airline’s maturity shone through in its response, cementing its status as a rare example of an African carrier that sits comfortably alongside the world’s top airlines.

The decade ended on a more positive note, with Ethiopian announcing plans to build a new $5 billion airport in Addis Ababa to replace its Bole International airport home, heralding a new stage in the carrier’s growth, before the coronavirus hit.