Ethiopian Airlines sets out vision to soar in The
aviation industry
Established African airline implements plans to double size of
company by 2025
10 March, 2011 | Supply Chain Digital
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Established in 1945 and wholly-owned by the Ethiopian
government, Ethiopian Airlines, or Ethiopian, considers itself to be a
national institution.
“You don’t tend to hear stories in the western media about
successful companies in Africa, but we have shown the rest of the
world that we are a success story,” Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Tewolde GebreMariam proudly points out.
“The continent is growing fast and changing its image. We feel we
are leading that process. Our company has been making money for
the past five years, different to many of our competitors across the
industry.”
Serving 60 international destinations, Ethiopian operates in the city
of Addis Ababa and has airport offices at other major locations.
In the cargo network, Ethiopian serves 18 countries in Africa, five in
the Gulf, Middle East and Asia, and two in Europe. Ethiopian’s fleet
consists of 46 aircrafts and the company has a further 40 on order.
“We have been registering very good profits; last year we were
ranked 60 on the list of the world’s most profitable companies and
number one in Africa,” adds GebreMariam.
The company though still holds strong ambitions for future growth,
and the airline aims to be the leading aviation group in Africa by
2025.
COMPANY VISION
Ethiopian has just surpassed expectations for a major project
entitled ‘Vision 2010’, when several years ago it aimed to reach an
annual revenue of US$1 billion by then.
The company managed to do so with flying colours, achieving
revenue of US$1.3bn last year.
“Business has been very good for us. In the past six years, we have
been growing on average 20 percent per annum and been profitable
each year,” he says.
Now, Ethiopian is implementing ‘Vision 2025’, a bold plan to more
than double in size.
“We have targets set for a whole range of areas and wish to
increase the number of destinations and employees. We currently
have around 3.2 million passengers a year. We want this number to
be 18 million by 2025 and operate a fleet of 110 planes,” asserts
GebreMariam.
TRAINING
The company has an elaborate training record, providing industry-
standard aviation training schemes in-house. Its Aviation Academy
has fully-trained 584 Ethiopian pilots and 316 from abroad since its
inception in 1964 using two hi-tech flight simulators.
In terms of aircraft technicians, this figure climbs to 1,845 native
Ethiopians and 821 from all over the world. Training is also
provided for marketing, sales, management, cabin crew, and finance
staff.
PEOPLE MANAGEMENT
Ethiopian employs 5,800 staff with 29 percent in marketing and
sales, 28 percent in maintenance and engineering, 12 percent as
cabin crew and 6 percent in the cockpit. The remaining quarter are
spread across several different departments.
Ethiopian also provides management and technical assistance to
other airlines on a secondment basis by availing trained and skilled
manpower in different areas relative to the airline industry.
The company also says it adopts a continuous improvement project
to ensure that each of the company areas from customer service to
back office activities called Achieving Computer Excellence.
“We award departments with bronze, silver or gold statuses for
how well they are performing to ensure that we always strive for
improvement,” says GebreMariam.
The company’s supply chain is managed by DHL Global
Forwarding.
TECHNOLOGY
Ethiopian use an ERP and SAP systems for human resources,
accounting and supply chain management. The company’s website
now also offers a full online booking service so customers can order
tickets over the internet.
“I think I can safely say that we have always been a technology
leader in the African aviation sector,” states GebreMariam.
“We also use a state-of-the-art system for airport handling,
ticketing, booking and our after service.
“We also have end-to-end flight operation systems that manage
flight planning and are in the process of use the latest technology in
air-to-ground and vice versa.”
CONSUMER FOCUSED
Ethiopian has targeted three key areas in the aviation industry that
are being tracked in customer trends – leisure, medical tourism and
education.
As GebreMariam explains, “As we operate in an emerging country,
we have noticed that people now have much more disposable
income and expect the tourism market to grow at a fast rate.
“In addition to this, medical tourism is also attracting a lot of
business. For healthcare or medical procedures, people seem to be
travelling to Thailand, India and the Middle East too.
“The number of people travelling for education purposes such as on
foreign exchanges or distance learning is also on the rise. We are
doing all that we can to reposition ourselves to take advantage of
the increased interest in these areas and deliver the best service we
can.”
AMBITIOUS AIMS
GebreMariam states that while Vision 2025 is the company’s main
focus, it will not compromise quality or responsibility in order to
continue growth a fast rate.
“The company feels it wants to contribute positively to socio-
economic development of Ethiopia in particular and in the countries
it operates in general. We will continue to do this by undertaking
corporate social responsibilities and providing vital global air
connectivity,” he says.
“The premise for Vision 2025 was that we achieve this success
through fast and sustainable growth. This is anchored by being
located in one of the high growth regions in the continent.
“I am sure we have the right strategy to enable us to continue the
growth we have had in the past five years,” GebreMariam signs off,
confidently.
Courtesy
aviation industry
Established African airline implements plans to double size of
company by 2025
10 March, 2011 | Supply Chain Digital
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Established in 1945 and wholly-owned by the Ethiopian
government, Ethiopian Airlines, or Ethiopian, considers itself to be a
national institution.
“You don’t tend to hear stories in the western media about
successful companies in Africa, but we have shown the rest of the
world that we are a success story,” Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Tewolde GebreMariam proudly points out.
“The continent is growing fast and changing its image. We feel we
are leading that process. Our company has been making money for
the past five years, different to many of our competitors across the
industry.”
Serving 60 international destinations, Ethiopian operates in the city
of Addis Ababa and has airport offices at other major locations.
In the cargo network, Ethiopian serves 18 countries in Africa, five in
the Gulf, Middle East and Asia, and two in Europe. Ethiopian’s fleet
consists of 46 aircrafts and the company has a further 40 on order.
“We have been registering very good profits; last year we were
ranked 60 on the list of the world’s most profitable companies and
number one in Africa,” adds GebreMariam.
The company though still holds strong ambitions for future growth,
and the airline aims to be the leading aviation group in Africa by
2025.
COMPANY VISION
Ethiopian has just surpassed expectations for a major project
entitled ‘Vision 2010’, when several years ago it aimed to reach an
annual revenue of US$1 billion by then.
The company managed to do so with flying colours, achieving
revenue of US$1.3bn last year.
“Business has been very good for us. In the past six years, we have
been growing on average 20 percent per annum and been profitable
each year,” he says.
Now, Ethiopian is implementing ‘Vision 2025’, a bold plan to more
than double in size.
“We have targets set for a whole range of areas and wish to
increase the number of destinations and employees. We currently
have around 3.2 million passengers a year. We want this number to
be 18 million by 2025 and operate a fleet of 110 planes,” asserts
GebreMariam.
TRAINING
The company has an elaborate training record, providing industry-
standard aviation training schemes in-house. Its Aviation Academy
has fully-trained 584 Ethiopian pilots and 316 from abroad since its
inception in 1964 using two hi-tech flight simulators.
In terms of aircraft technicians, this figure climbs to 1,845 native
Ethiopians and 821 from all over the world. Training is also
provided for marketing, sales, management, cabin crew, and finance
staff.
PEOPLE MANAGEMENT
Ethiopian employs 5,800 staff with 29 percent in marketing and
sales, 28 percent in maintenance and engineering, 12 percent as
cabin crew and 6 percent in the cockpit. The remaining quarter are
spread across several different departments.
Ethiopian also provides management and technical assistance to
other airlines on a secondment basis by availing trained and skilled
manpower in different areas relative to the airline industry.
The company also says it adopts a continuous improvement project
to ensure that each of the company areas from customer service to
back office activities called Achieving Computer Excellence.
“We award departments with bronze, silver or gold statuses for
how well they are performing to ensure that we always strive for
improvement,” says GebreMariam.
The company’s supply chain is managed by DHL Global
Forwarding.
TECHNOLOGY
Ethiopian use an ERP and SAP systems for human resources,
accounting and supply chain management. The company’s website
now also offers a full online booking service so customers can order
tickets over the internet.
“I think I can safely say that we have always been a technology
leader in the African aviation sector,” states GebreMariam.
“We also use a state-of-the-art system for airport handling,
ticketing, booking and our after service.
“We also have end-to-end flight operation systems that manage
flight planning and are in the process of use the latest technology in
air-to-ground and vice versa.”
CONSUMER FOCUSED
Ethiopian has targeted three key areas in the aviation industry that
are being tracked in customer trends – leisure, medical tourism and
education.
As GebreMariam explains, “As we operate in an emerging country,
we have noticed that people now have much more disposable
income and expect the tourism market to grow at a fast rate.
“In addition to this, medical tourism is also attracting a lot of
business. For healthcare or medical procedures, people seem to be
travelling to Thailand, India and the Middle East too.
“The number of people travelling for education purposes such as on
foreign exchanges or distance learning is also on the rise. We are
doing all that we can to reposition ourselves to take advantage of
the increased interest in these areas and deliver the best service we
can.”
AMBITIOUS AIMS
GebreMariam states that while Vision 2025 is the company’s main
focus, it will not compromise quality or responsibility in order to
continue growth a fast rate.
“The company feels it wants to contribute positively to socio-
economic development of Ethiopia in particular and in the countries
it operates in general. We will continue to do this by undertaking
corporate social responsibilities and providing vital global air
connectivity,” he says.
“The premise for Vision 2025 was that we achieve this success
through fast and sustainable growth. This is anchored by being
located in one of the high growth regions in the continent.
“I am sure we have the right strategy to enable us to continue the
growth we have had in the past five years,” GebreMariam signs off,
confidently.
Courtesy
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off
14 Nov. 2010 (Addis Fortune)
Since the establishment of
Ethiopian Airlines in 1945 as
Ethiopian Air Lines Inc, 13
people have been at the helm
of the company, with the first
three being foreigners. Yet, no
one has seen the airline through
such high performance and as
many milestones as Girma Wake, the 14th chief
executive officer (CEO), who replaced Bisrat
Negatu in 2004 and submitted his resignation
three weeks ago....More
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