Ethiopian named Airline of the Year
Africa’s largest Airline Group, Ethiopian Airlines, has won the Airline of the Year Award for the fifth year in a row.
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The awards are organised by the African Airlines Association (AFRAA), and the latest award was announced at the 48th Annual General Assembly of the association held on November 21, 2016, in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.
The AFRAA annual awards recognise excellence in service delivery, innovation and competitiveness in airlines, individuals and service providers in the African aviation industry.
Ethiopian Airlines was applauded for its outstanding financial performance, technological leadership and investment in modern fuel efficient fleet, exemplary cooperation with other African carriers, significantly expanding route network in Africa and beyond, growing cargo operations with the largest cargo fleet on the continent and huge investment in Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) and training facilities to support the African Aviation.
The Ethiopian Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr Tewolde GebreMariam, received the award on behalf of the airline and underscored the continuous efforts and hard work of Ethiopian employees who were striving day and night to surpass customers’ expectations, saying, “we are highly honoured for this recognition by fellow sister airlines in Africa for the fifth consecutive year.”
He said Ethiopian Airlines was also grateful to its loyal customers for giving it the opportunity to serve them, for travelling with the airline in great numbers, for their continued feedback and support which, in turn, assisted us in enhancing the airline’s service excellence.
“Although Africa is registering rapid economic and travel growth, this growth is primarily benefiting non-African carriers. I would like to remind fellow African airlines that African aviation holds a very strong future with vigorous fundamentals for aviation to thrive, only if we Africans look inwards towards the continent to leverage on the available internal resources to create synergy through collaborative partnerships in areas of training, technical and management support.”
Mr GebreMariam said most of all, realising one single unified market without any restriction for African airlines was no more an option.
