Ethiopian Wins Gold in African Airline of the Year Awards - 10 February, 2012

Ethiopian Airlines has received the Gold in the African Airline of the Year 2011/2012 Awards according to the African Aviation News Portal.

The African Aviation News, in its news release of 09 February 2012, stated that Ethiopian Airlines emerged ahead of the pack collecting the highest number of the votes by the readers and followers of African Aviation. Readers voted in an online poll set up at the African Aviation's website as well as in the various industry meetings and airline congress events.

Following the award announcement, Ato Tewolde GebreMariam, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, said, "It gives an immense pleasure to the Ethiopian team to receive a vote of confidence for its services as the continent’s leading airline. The award underscores the continuous efforts and hard work of Ethiopian employees who are striving day and night to surpass customers’ expectations. Ethiopian is also grateful to its loyal customers for their continued feedback and support which, in turn, assisted us in enhancing the airline’s service excellence."

In 2011, Ethiopian Airlines received African Airlines Association (AFRAA) Award for being consistently profitable over the years and recording strong financial results. Ethiopian was also named as Africa’s most profitable airline by Air Transport World (ATW) in 2010. Ethiopian also received the 2010 ‘’Silver Boeing Performance Excellence Award’’ for its outstanding performance at the Wire Kits Harness Manufacturing Plant and the 2010 Annual Airline Reliability Performance Award from the Bombardier Aerospace in the overall Q-400 product category for the Middle East and Africa region.

"Once again, Ethiopian welcomes this award with pride and would like to thank the African Aviation News for organizing the poll and recognizing Ethiopian", added Ato Tewolde.

African Aviation, through its dedicated readers and followers, recognizes top industry organizations which have manifested excellent customer services, skills, ingenuity, creativity and success in Africa’s flourishing tourism industry.

About Ethiopian

Ethiopian Airlines, one of the largest and fastest growing airlines in Africa, made its maiden international flight to Cairo in 1946 and now the Airline provides dependable services to 64 international destinations spanning four continents.

Ethiopian is proud to be a Star Alliance Member. The Star Alliance network is the leading global airline network offering customers convenient worldwide reach and a smoother travel experience. The Star Alliance network offers more than 21,000 daily flights to 1,290 airports in 189 countries.

Ethiopian is a multi-award winner for its commitment and contributions towards the development and growth of the African aviation industry and in recognition of its distinguished long-haul operations enhanced by the introduction of new routes and products. In the recent past, Ethiopian received the 2011 AFRAA award for being consistently profitable over the years and has won the "AFRICAN CARGO AIRLINE OF THE YEAR 2011 Award” for its excellence in air cargo. Ethiopian also won the NEPAD Transport Infrastructure Excellence Awards 2009 and "the Airline of the Year 2009 Award" from the African Airlines Association (AFRAA). With its acquisition of and firm orders for several new modern fleet, the airline is well positioned to pursue aggressively the implementation of its 2025 strategic plan to become the leading aviation group in Africa.

For more information about this press release, please contact:
Manager PR & Publications 
Ethiopian Airlines 
Tel: (+251-11) 517-89-07, (+251-11) 517-81-65 
Fax: (+251-11) 661-14-74 
E-mail: publicrelations@ethiopianairlines.com