Ethiopian Airlines wins CAPA Airline of the Year Award

OCT 9, 2015: Ethiopian Airlines announced that it has won CAPA Airline of the Year Award, one of the top airline awards, at the 2015 CAPA Aviation Awards for Excellence, held on 7 October, 2015 in Helsinki as part of CAPA’s 2015 World Aviation Summit.

CAPA - Centre for Aviation (formerly the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation) is the leading provider of independent global expertise in aviation market intelligence, analysis and data services covering worldwide developments. The CAPA awards for Excellence are independently researched by CAPA and Heidrick & Struggles and selected by an independent International panel of judges.

Ethiopian was selected by the judging panels for its ability to establish pan-African operations and thrive in an increasingly important emerging market; being the biggest standout strategically during the year and emerging as the leader in Africa with a pioneering strategy, which has the greatest impact on the development of the airline industry thereby establishing itself as a leader, providing a benchmark for others to follow.

Ethiopian Group CEO Tewolde GebreMariam receiving the award from CAPA executive chairman Peter Harbison Tewolde GebreMariam, Group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, remarked while receiving the award at a gala dinner, “I am humbled to be honored with this prestigious award of CAPA Airline of the Year which is a demonstration and recognition of our fast and continuous growth, outstanding performance and our Pan-African stance in bringing Africa together and closer to the world. I wish to thank CAPA and the panel of judges for recognizing our contribution in serving Africa and our contribution to the development of the African Aviation. The award goes, first and foremost, to the more than 9000 employees at Ethiopian who are working hard day-in and day-out and managed to make our beloved airline the leading, fast growing and the most profitable airline in Africa, despite the uniquely challenging operating environment prevailing in the continent. It is also a testimony of the remarkable success of our Vision 2025 fast, profitable and sustainable growth strategy.

The award is also a testimony of the success of our business model, which is the diversified aviation business and which will make Ethiopian the Leading Aviation Group in Africa by 2025. We will continue our leadership in the African Aviation industry and connecting mother Africa With its major global trading centers. We currently offer an extensive network, ideal connectivity options which guarantee the fastest and the shortest travel time between any destinations in the continent of Africa and to all 90+ of our global destinations as convenient as possible.”

CAPA noted that Ethiopian has rapidly expanded its network in Africa, and its position in Africa has been further strengthened by pursuing joint ventures and investments in other African carriers Ethiopian has also pursued rapid and successful expansion in Asia, where it now has 11 destinations, positioning Addis Ababa as the leading hub for the growing Asia-Africa market despite intensifying competition for such traffic from the Gulf carriers/hubs. Several new partnerships have been forged including with ANA, Singapore Airlines and United Airlines, leveraging Ethiopian’s membership in Star.

Ethiopian also celebrated several prestigious awards in 2015, including the APEX Passenger Choice Award the most extensive survey of passengers in the industry, the AFRAA “Best airline in Africa” award, the “Best international airline of the year” by Business Executive Excellence, are few to mention .