Following the worst crisis commercial aviation has ever experienced, Ethiopian Airlines is now cash positive and profitable, its chief executive officer Tewolde Gebremariam said on Thursday. How it got there? Riding the updraft of a booming air freight market.
E-commerce and medical supplies
When physical stores closed down, people suffering from lockdown boredom took to online retail therapy. As entry restrictions erupted across the globe, regular supply chains were disrupted. As a result, the e-commerce business flourished, Jeff Bezos added a few more billions to his fortune, and airlines were thrown a lifeline in the form of soaring air cargo demand.
Passenger seats were quickly expelled from widebody aircraft in so-called ‘preighters’ to make space for more cargo – for some time nearly worth its weight in gold. Ethiopian Airlines was one of the first commercial carriers to turn to freight to generate revenue throughout COVID. It has succeeded in keeping the momentum going.
“For us, Ethiopian Airlines, the cargo business is strong and I would say is a breadwinner in the group,” Gebremariam said during a video link to a conference in Dubai, as reported by Reuters. “We are cash-positive. We are profitable,” he continued.
Strategic hub for pharma and goods
The crisis has seen the airline and Addis Ababa become an important hub for the transport of vaccines and other medical supplies onwards to the continent. Ethiopian Airlines also strengthened its position as Africa’s leading pharmaceutical carrier at the end of last year when it received the Center of Excellence for Independent Validators in Pharmaceutical Logistics (CEIV Pharma) certification.
The Ethiopian…