Known for over-reaching its targets, Africa’s most successful carrier, Ethiopian Airline has said it is working to be a 10 billion dollar profit making organization, fly 120 international and 26 domestic destinations by 2025.
But the airline, which has remained the most profitable operator in the continent, has actualized its set target in the past years before the target date.
According to a THISDAY newspaper report, the Manager of Ethiopian Airlines Holidays, Mrs. Seble Azena, who disclosed this while addressing Nigerian journalists and tour operators, during a tour of the airline’s facility at the airline’s headquarters in Addis Ababa, noted that the airline would continue to record milestones of achievement.
Azena said the airline’s current revenue for 2016 unaudited stood at 2.71 billion dollars with 100 international destinations and 17 domestic destinations, noting that the airline currently transported 8.8 million passengers annually with a total of 92 aircraft in its fleet while 59 aircraft have been ordered.
The manager said during the period the airline airlifted about 238,000 tonnes of cargo annually using 39 wide body freighter aircraft across the globe.
“Today, Ethiopian airlines is the second fastest growing carrier in the world. We transport 8.8 million passengers and about 338,546 tonnes of cargo per year. The revenue is $2.71 billion revenue, our current fleet is 92 and we have 59 aircraft in order. Beyond the number of aircraft that the Ethiopian airlines have, the most interesting element is that the average age of aircraft is five years.
“We use Addis Ababa as our main hub and as such, there is more congestion at the airport. To alleviate this and facilitate passengers’ movement within the continent and the globe, the airline has established two more hubs, one in Lome in West Africa and the other is in Lilongwe in Malawi in southern Africa. We currently have 100 destinations, for cargo, we have 39 dedicated cargo freighter and 19 dedicated domestic destinations,’’ she said.
Azena said the airline’s new cargo terminal in Addis Ababa was the largest in Africa and second in the world, adding that the terminal would become the world’s largest by 2025.
She said the cargo terminal was designed as an automated terminal with the capacity to process 600,000 tons of cargo annually, adding that the airline was currently contributing 11 percent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product, remarking that the country had invested so much in the aviation industry.
According to her, the airline is willing to assist any African country to develop their aviation sector especially in setting up a national carrier through partnership.
