ETHIOPIAN SET TO ANNOUNCE ANOTHER PROFITABLE YEAR AMID A SHARP DROP IN REVENUES DUE TO #COVID19
(Posted 05th July 2020)
(Ato Tewolde Gebremariam has continued reason to smile given the sterling performance of Ethiopian Airlines despite the challenges of #COVID19)
Tewolde Gebremariam, the CEO of the Ethiopian Airlines Group, last week said in an interview that the airline will remain profitable, a much lower profit of course no doubt due to the global circumstances, and attributed the success to a very good first half of the airline’s financial year and continued cargo and passenger flight operations.
The income from cargo operations since the global #COVID19 pandemic took hold, but also from repatriation flights and auxiliary services like aircraft maintenance, allowed the airline to continue pay salaries and other recurrent expenses like payments for aircraft, insurance and other overheads. Ethiopian Airlines also presently operates nearly 50 repatriation services each week, helping people from around the world to get to their home countries.
During the past financial year Ethiopian Airlines had, with a 4 billion US Dollar revenue, achieved some 260 million US Dollars in profits, carrying over 12 million passengers.
The revenue loss this year could reach up to a billion US Dollars but will leave the airline still in the profit zone.
This is in sharp contrast to other major African carriers which, like South African Airways and Kenya Airways, are staring in the financial abyss after years of mismanagement and accumulated losses which defy business sense.
