Ethiopian Airlines, the fully state owned aviation group, today reports $550 million loss after it is forced to suspend most of its flights because of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that infected three of its staff.
This is indicated by Tewolde GebreMariam, CEO of Ethiopian Aviation Group who briefed journalists this afternoon in Addis Ababa. Meanwhile unlike other airlines, Ethiopian Airlines will not lay off employees, according to Mr. Tewolde. For the past several years Ethiopian Airlines profit has been increasing making it the top profitable aviation group in Africa. Mr. Tewolde also stated that out of the total of 52 COVID-19 infected people confirmed in Ethiopia, three are flight attendants of Ethiopian Airlines.
Earlier a few weeks ago, Ethiopian Airlines has reported losing $190 million after it has suspended flights to 30 international destinations. As the pandemic spread across the world killing over 70 million people in the past few months, people are forced to stay at home in many countries to stop the spread of the pandemic. As a result many airlines have been reporting loss. In Africa over 470 people have died by coronavirus, while about 10,000 are infected so far.