ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES

E T H IOPI AN AI R LI N ES

The ‘Best Airline in Africa’ continues to live up to its billing www.ethiopianairlines.com

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Soaring Heights TO NEW

Ethiopian Airlines continues to receive the acclaim of the surrounding industry, as it goes further than any African operator in bridging the continent to the rest of the world Writer: Matthew Staff• Project Manager: Tom Cullum

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s the largest and most profitable airline in Africa, it should perhaps come as no surprise to see the rapid expansion enjoyed by Ethiopian Airlines over the past 12 months, but the Pan-African global carrier has exceeded industry expectations and soared to new heights in 2015 to ensure it is not just the biggest, but the best.

Embracing not just network enhancements, but also a careful acknowledgement of improved internal procedures, the culminating

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service offered across 91 destinations, five continents and 230 daily departures has led to numerous awards and widespread, international acclaim.

Surpassing previously pioneering continental competitors in the process, Ethiopian Airlines’ seemingly constant broadening of its destination network has been a large driver behind the plaudits, both ‘nearby’ to other African nations, and to the wider world.

Both Cape Town and Durban have been added to its previously sole South African representation in

Johannesburg, while Goma in the DRC, Gaborone in Botswana and Yaoundé in Cameroon formed its domestic expansion strategy over the course of 2015.

Meanwhile, Addis-Ababa was brought closer and more speedily than ever before to the likes of Tokyo in Japan, Manila in the Philippines, Sao Paolo in Brazil and Dublin in Ireland; complementing arguably its most significant foray which took the Company further into the US. Los Angeles was ticked off in mid2015 and is now in the process of

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Proud to be Africa’s first ever all-woman flight crew

Emerging as Africa’s leading airline

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being joined by the re-launch of a New York service in 2016.

“Preparations are being finalised to launch a service to JFK Airport by the end of June, 2016 as Ethiopian’s network will once again provide a vital link between New York and Africa,” the Company confirmed at the turn of the year. “Ethiopian will be deploying the most modern aircraft in the world on this flight, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which not only offers unparalleled onboard comfort to passengers, but is also the world’s most environmentally friendly aircraft with its lower fuel usage and noise emissions.”

Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Tewolde GebreMariam said: “We

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are thrilled to resume our service to New York, our fourth destination in the Americas. New York is one of the world’s most economically powerful cities and including it in our everexpanding network will play a critical role in the expansion of trade, tourism and investment between the fast growing continent of Africa and the United States.”

Expansion strategy

To facilitate such levels of expansion, there has inevitably been vast improvements made to the Ethiopian Airlines fleet also as it looks to ensure that it has the quality as well as quantity of flights within its portfolio.

To this end, 2015 witnessed a firm purchase agreement with Bombardier Commercial Aircraft for two additional

Q Series

CRJ Series

C Series

Ingenuity in Flight.

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r its subsidiaries. ©2016 Bombardier Inc. All rights reserved.

Bombardier C Series Aircraft Another Choice for African Airlines African airlines have been enjoying success with their growing fleets of Bombardier Q400 turboprop and CRJ jet aircraft for many years, and now the allnew C Series single-aisle mainline aircraft offers opportunities for carriers to extend their reach further into new markets requiring more than 100 seats but less than 170 or 180 seats.

“Africa has much room for growth in airline service in many areas and the C Series aircraft, which is designed to deliver unparalleled economic advantage to airlines, presents exciting, new opportunities for single-aisle aircraft operations that will enhance service in these areas,” said John Kassis, Vice President, Sales, the Middle East and Africa, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft.

“The C Series aircraft operates very well in hot and high environments while offering a fuel burn that has a 20 per cent advantage over in-production aircraft and up to a 10 per cent advantage over re-engined aircraft. And in Africa, where the price of fuel is about 20 per cent above the world average, that is a very significant operating cost advantage.

“Added to that, the C Series airliner is the quietest commercial jet in production, and has been designed with passenger comfort very much in mind,” added Mr. Kassis.

Following a comprehensive and rigorous testing program, the CS100 airliner – the smaller C Series aircraft model – received its Type Certification from Transport Canada in December 2015. This paves the way for the CS100 aircraft to enter service with launch operator SWISS in the second quarter of 2016. SWISS’ first aircraft is structurally complete and the airline’s crews are training at Bombardier’s facility in Mirabel, Québec.

African airlines have been generating a steadily growing regional airline network with the current generation of economical Bombardier Q Series turboprops and CRJ regional jets that dominate the 50- to 100seat segment on the continent.

Ethiopian Airlines has led this aggressive movement with its fleet of Q400 turboprops, including the first dual-class ones on the continent. In December 2015, Ethiopian placed an order for two more Q400 aircraft to bring its fleet of the turboprops to 19.

An aircraft like the Q400 with its combination of range, payload, passenger comfort and the ability to handle highaltitude, hot-weather airports is critical for Ethiopian to keep its leadership position in the market.

“Through our strategic partnerships with ASKY Airlines in Togo and Malawian Airlines in Malawi, the Q400 aircraft has played a vital role in providing convenient connections as well as increasing frequencies to support air travel growth in Africa,” said Ethiopian Airlines’ Chief Executive Officer, Tewolde Gebremarium.

Ethiopian Airlines has won Airline Reliability Performance Awards from Bombardier for five years in a row.

Mr. Kassis pointed out that other airlines in Africa have also chosen Bombardier aircraft to upgrade their fleets.

“RwandAir, for example, replaced a smaller Q Series turboprop with the Q400 to expand the airline’s market base in East Africa,” he said. “The CRJ900 regional jet replaced the smaller CRJ200 and provided business class service to West Africa. This flexibility has provided RwandAir with the ability to feed more regional domestic passengers into its larger aircraft.”

Air Côte d’Ivoire is another airline that leveraged the Q400 to replace older, less-efficient jets that no longer met its objectives. The Q400 enabled the airline to restart services within the country while expanding its reach throughout the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region, helping to solidify co-operation within ECOWAS while carrying traffic to Abidjan to connect with international air services to the rest of Africa and Europe.

Arik Air is an exception. When it began operations in 2007, it had no fleet to upgrade or replace. It began its flying with one new CRJ900 regional jet, the first new

commercial aircraft seen on the Nigerian registry for more than 20 years. Today, it flies CRJ900 and CRJ1000 jets and Q400 turboprops on its domestic and regional routes and feeds traffic to its larger jet aircraft for its growing international operations.

Mr. Kassis noted that there is now also a combi version of the Q400 aircraft that offers various configurations and new opportunities for African carriers. The layout providing the greatest payload capability can carry up to 9,000 pounds (4,082 kg) of cargo in weight and up to 1,150 cubic feet (32 cubic metres) in volume. In this version, the Q400 combi can carry 52 passengers at 32-inch (81.3 cm) seat pitch and 58 at 29 inches (73.7 cm). The Class C cargo compartment meets the latest standards. The first Q400 combi aircraft was recently delivered to Ryukyu Air of Okinawa, Japan.

Africa’s aviation infrastructure presents some challenges for airline operators, but with their excellent hot-weather and high-altitude capabilities, as well as their short or unpaved runway performance, Bombardier commercial aircraft can safely handle many of these.

The improvement of aviation safety through training is a very high priority at Bombardier and the company’s customer

services team works diligently to provide service around the clock to operators.

“We take pride in the quality of our training programs for pilots, technicians, flight attendants and support staff,” said Todd Young, Vice President and General Manager, Customer Services, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. “Our customers receive training packages tailored to meet their regulatory authorities’ requirements.

We have field service support and ongoing technical training, and regional forums and safety working groups share information among the operators of our aircraft.”

Bombardier has steadily increased its support footprint in Africa over the last five years through various direct and indirect means. A Regional Support Office (RSO) and spare parts depot are co-located in Johannesburg, and Authorized Service Facilities (ASFs), operated by South African Express Airways and Ethiopian Airlines are located in Johannesburg and Addis Ababa respectively.

Bombardier’s support focus remains steadfast on meeting the challenges faced by African operators. The support network, which has already been proven with operators of CRJ and Q Series aircraft across Africa, will further enhance the advantages to be derived from the C Series aircraft’s new technologies and efficiencies.

Bombardier C Series aircraft doing water ingestion testing at Bombardier’s facility in Mirabel, Quebec.

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Ethiopian is growing both its fleet and network around the world

a vital role in availing convenient connections, as well as increasing frequencies to support air travel growth in Africa and successfully create a missing link.

“The Q400 aircraft is also our core fleet to our domestic and regional destinations, thereby ensuring excellent passenger experience, operational flexibility and economics.”

Ethiopian Airlines joined Bombardier’s global network of Authorised Service Facilities (ASFs) for commercial aircraft in 2013 and performs line and heavy maintenance on Q400 aircraft at its facilities at Bole International Airport in Addis-Ababa.

“The Q400 turboprop continues to make impressive headway in Africa and has proven its ruggedness and reliability in challenging operational environments where it’s hot, and high capability, jet-like speed and high rate of climb are significant assets,” said Fred Cromer, President, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. “Some 69 Q400 aircraft are now in service with more than 20 operators on the continent, and we are delighted with Ethiopian Airlines’ continuing growth and impressive use of the aircraft to satisfy a wide variety of market requirements.”

Q400 turboprop airliners; bringing the airline’s Q400 fleet to a total of 19; the largest in Africa.

Valued at approximately $63 million, GebreMariam expressed his delight at the acquisition: “We are continuously working to have the right fleet with agility, optimal range, load and passenger comfort which is critical for us to keep our leadership position in the market.

“The Q400 aircraft continues to be an integral part of our expansion strategy in Africa. Through our strategic partnerships with ASKY Airlines in Togo and Malawian Airlines in Malawi, the Q400 airliner has played

Renowned for its breaking of parameters and evolution of the wider industry, Ethiopian Airlines broke arguably its most significant barrier yet in November, 2015 as it initiated the continent’s first ever all-woman functioned flight.

Taking place between Addis-Ababa and Bangkok, the historic flight was aimed at crystallising Ethiopian corporate conviction of ‘Women Empowerment for a Sustainable Growth’, and comprised not just the pilots, but also an entirely female deck crew and executives on board.

On-ground flight preparations were also conducted exclusively by females,

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Best Airline in Africa

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incorporating cabin operations, airport operations, flight dispatcher, load controller, ramp operations, on-board logistics, aviation safety and security, ticket offices, catering, air traffic controllers and even the global call centre.

“It is a great honour for us to have competent women aviation professionals at Ethiopian in every aspect of the aviation field, which portrays Ethiopian as a gender

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responsive organisation that strives to pursue its underlying stance of being an equal opportunity employer.

“We are very proud of their achievements and contributions and it is our sincere belief that this will continue with an enhanced magnitude and passion to sustain Ethiopian on its fast growth trajectory.

“Above all, this is an ample opportunity to inspire young African female students to believe in their

dreams and embark to fill the skill gap for aviation professionals.”

GebreMarian has subsequently been awarded with the ‘Most Gender Focused CEO’ award from the Leading Women of Africa, setting the tone for a series of accolades directed towards Ethiopian Airline in recent times; ‘Africa Best Employer Brand’ just one more trophy to add to its cabinet.

The ‘APEX Passenger Choice Award’, ‘CAPA Airline of the Year Award’ and ‘AFRAA Airline of the Year Award’ further cement the Airline’s position at the head of African air travel for the years to come.

“Having also been recognised as ‘Best Airline to Africa’ for a second year in a row, and ‘Best Airline in Africa’ by one of the most prominent travel magazines in the US, in December, 2015, I am very pleased to receive these awards on behalf of the more than 9,000 strong men and women colleagues at Ethiopian Airlines and I congratulate them for this achievement.”

Barrack Obama will be able to fly Ethiopian more often as a result of the airline’s enhanced links to the US

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ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES Bole International Airport, P.O.Box 1755, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Tel: +251 11 665 2222 Email: Customerrelations@ethiopianairlines.com

www.ethiopianairlines.com