Thursday, March 28, 2024
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ET projects pleasant performance despite global trends

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Unlike the global trend, Ethiopian Airlines (ET) projects to reel in 80 percent of its business relative to the pre COVID 19 era performance by the end of this year.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates that the aviation industry shall recover from the COVID 19 impact by the end of 2023.
The global aviation business is still battling to overcome the problem and at least save itself from loss. However, unlike other airlines, Ethiopian Airlines has been performing better and continued to be profitable during the pandemic.
Lemma Yadecha, Ethiopian Airlines International Services Managing Director, said that in the end of the budget year that ended in June Ethiopian shall met 65 percent of its performance of the pre COVID period or in 2019.
“At the end of this year, December 31, 2021, we expected that Ethiopian Airlines will close the year by 80 percent of pre COVID 19 performance, which is odd compared with others,” Lemma told Capital.
“Other airlines are struggling to meet at least 50 percent of their pre COVID performance, while our operation is on upward trajectory, contrary to others,” he added.
Agility and taping challenges as opportunity is the major success of ET, according to the International Services Managing Director, who stressed that the leadership is valiant to manage challenges.
“Despite the enterprise being owned by government, it is operating like a private company and the management and staffs are working as owners and family,” Lemma explained while showing the reason for the success of Ethiopian Airlines that has 62 destinations in Africa and flights to all the continents around the world.
When the air transportation world was hard hit, it can be recalled that ET converted some of its passenger aircrafts to transport cargos to transport personal protective equipment for COVID 19 and vaccine to different destinations while most aircrafts were grounded all over the world.
Lemma said that the passenger sector is now bouncing back while the major success is mainly attributed by cargo service.
Regarding passenger operation ET announced that it reached 55 percent of the pre COVID 19 period, while it may vary from month to month.
The International Civil Aviation Organization reported that as seat capacity fell by 50 percent in 2020, passenger totals dropped by 60 percent with just 1.8 billion passengers taking to the air during the first year of the pandemic, compared to 4.5 billion in 2019.
Annually ET used to transport 12.7 million passengers before the pandemic. “This Ethiopian year we have planned to transport 9 million passengers that is about 70 percent of 2019, a year that was pre COVID 19.”
According to him, the MRO service that is providing maintenance service for other airlines is also growing and similarly the aviation academy is playing its part to rebound ET’s revenue.

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