The DG (here on April 21) began his tenth year at the head of the company last January. Michael Tewelde/AFP Future Addis Ababa airport, expansion of the fleet and network, diversification… In spite of the crisis, the head of the continent’s leading airline remains focused on his objectives and, strengthened by increasingly privileged links with China, has great ambitions.
Tewolde GebreMariam, the CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, describes himself as “very combative” at the moment.
After the ordeal of the Boeing 737 Max crash in 2019, it is the coronavirus crisis of “unprecedented magnitude” that Ethiopian Airlines and its CEO are facing.
The company has continued to fly to China, the epicentre of the epidemic, while most of the major players had interrupted their flights. Its cargo planes have appeared on screens around the world for having participated in the “war effort” against the epidemic.
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On the tarmacs of many African airports, but also in Spain, Italy and Portugal, it was one of the first to deliver sanitary equipment from China.
It demonstrates a flexibility in the temporary reconversion of its activities. This does not spare it from the difficulties affecting the entire air transport sector, but rather encourages it to continue the diversification of its activities begun some ten years ago.
While it is unaware of the date and extent of the recovery, Tewolde GebreMariam is maintaining his course.
Ethiopian Airlines: Crisis and communications
It remains to be seen whether, in an African sky where victims are expected to be numerous, Ethiopian Airlines can be the architect of the sector’s reconstruction.
Your airline lost 500 million dollars between January and April. How much has it lost today? Tewolde GebreMariam: They are not financial losses but rather a loss of earnings, because our planes are grounded. This is what we would have generated if we had operated at full capacity. We can estimate that this shortfall amounts to $1bn as of May 15. We do not know the extent of our losses. Our fiscal year will end in June. You said there would be no layoffs. Is your cash flow holding up? Indeed, there were no layoffs. We’ve been able to pay salaries because of our strong financial equilibrium. The last few years have been profitable. The strategy of diversifying our activities into cargo, maintenance and hotels is proving to be the […]
