Ethiopian Airlines has won its 6th award since the month of June. The most recent accolade that the airlines received was part of the Decade Airline of Excellence Awards; Ethiopian won the Best-Performing African Airline of the Decade Award.
Over the decade for which Ethiopian was awarded, it was able to transform itself from a national carrier to the first true pan-African. Its evolution is the combined result of using the capital, Addis Ababa, as a leverage point and investing in the equities of other national African operators.
Lewis Harper, Managing Director of Airline Business Magazine, asserts that under Tewolde Gebremariam’s leadership since 2011, the airline has been able to progress its status by being an agent of progress not simply as an institution, but by contributing to the nation’s economic development overall.
Judges noted this participation asserting its role as one of the factors that contributed to the airline receiving the awards. 2011 also marked the year when Ethiopian joined the Star Alliance collective all the while deploying modern fleets and implementing progressive business and organizational approaches.
The icing on the cake was that the effect of these measures was financially demonstrable. Revenues showed an eight-fold increase and profit showed a six-fold increase which judges found impressive considering the challenging nature of the market. By the end of the decade Ethiopian commanded the vast proportion of the African network, even undertaking Dubai as the biggest transfer hub for long-haul travel to Africa in 2018.
The fact that the airline was also able to turn a profit and demonstrate exemplary social responsibility during the COVID-19 pandemic was also cited as a factor behind the win.