Amidst the global pandemic that cripples the global aviation and tourism industry, Ethiopian Airlines says it has generated annual revenue of 122.14 billion birr (about $3.3 billion at current exchange rate) during the budget year of Ethiopia concluded July 7, 2020.
This is indicated at the annual review of the performance of Ethiopian Airlines by the Public Enterprises Holding and Administration Agency (PEHAA) held on Monday this week. The fully state owned Aviation Group has managed to generate the revenue by diversifying its income streams, mainly by focusing on cargo businesses and chartered flights.
It was indicated that the revenue plan set by Ethiopian Airlines Group before the outbreak of the global pandemic – coronavirus was 149.72 billion birr. Achieving 82% of its target in the face of the global pandemic, which badly affected the tourism and travel industry across the world, is appreciated by the board of PEHAA.
In addition to swiftly converting 25 of its passenger aircrafts into cargo, Ethiopian Airlines Group has managed to cut its expenses to collect the reported revenue in a year. The annual performance review of Ethiopian Airlines was led by Beyene Gebremaeskel, Director General of PEHAA, who applauded the performance of the Group.
Currently the Group has 14,000 staff of which 34% are female employees of which the majority are said in managerial position, are technicians and pilots. During the previous budget year concluded July 7, 2019, Ethiopian Airlines Group’s annual revenue was 114.6 billion birr (about $4.2 billion at the exchange rate of that time). Because of the coronavirus, unlike Ethiopian Airlines Group, many airlines in Africa have been reporting loss over the past months.