[250421.EN.AIR] Ethiopian Fetes 75th Year, Having Braved Covid With No Bail-out, Layoffs

 

ETHIOPIAN Airline Group, the largest Pan-African aviation group, has celebrated its 75th anniversary, having made its maiden international flight in 1946 to Cairo, noted the American Journal of Transportation.

Since then, the airline overcame the ups and downs of the aviation industry and the challenges unique to Africa to become Africa's largest, most profitable and award-winning Aviation Group. Ethiopian kicks off a yearlong celebration under the theme "Celebrating 75 Years of Excellence".

"As we celebrate 75 years of excellence, we take stock of our accomplishments over three quarters of a century," said company CEO Tewolde GebreMariam.

Among the many firsts introduced by Ethiopian, Mr GebreMariam noted, was the first Jet aircraft in Africa, the first East Africa to West Africa scheduled flight, the first airline from the Western Hemisphere to fly to China, the first scheduled service between the capitals of the most populous nations in the world (from New Delhi to Beijing), the first airline in Africa to introduce the B767, B777-200LR, B787 (Dreamliner) and later on the A350 to Africa.

"Today, our industry faces a serious challenge posed by Covid-19. The route we chose to overcome this challenge is to tighten our belt, change the way we do business and be agile," he said.

"We remain the only commercial airline that hasn't sought government bailout and didn't lay off a single employee. I would like to take this opportunity to cement our commitment to sustainable aviation and continue to work with all stakeholders to enhance Africa's air connectivity," Mr GebreMariam said.

Source : HKSG.