Over the past few years, South African Airways and Kenya Airways have been on the decline and seeking government funding while Ethiopian airlines have been on the rise.
Prior to the pandemic, Ethiopian airlines was the largest air passenger carrier in Africa. Up until the pandemic the airline had been moving towards dominating aviation throughout Africa by investing in different African airlines and has been considering investing in the beleaguered South African Airways.
With their base in Addis Ababa, they are ideally positioned to be an aviation hub with routes to North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and around Africa.
The Ethiopian government has also contributed to the huge success of the airline by regulating and limiting other carriers from landing at the Addis Ababa airport and from flying to other domestic locations within the country.
While the airline is a state-owned enterprise, it is because it is managed and run like any other commercial enterprise that has attributed to its success. This coupled with its proficient leadership and skilled staff has meant that the airline has reached its planned 2025 goals in as early as 2018.
The pandemic caused the airline to lose half a billion dollars in April. Despite this, the enterprise stayed afloat and didn’t default on any payments. They survived the pandemic without any need of government intervention, on the funding side, and any job losses.
How has the airline done this? Due to the Coronavirus, lockdown and the fact that there were no passenger flights, Ethiopian airlines cleverly decided to focus on their freight cargo deliveries. The airline delivers all types of cargo (fresh produce, medications and PPE amongst many others) internationally and across the African continent.
The passenger seats, in twenty-five of the airlines 777 passenger aircraft, were stripped out to allow for more cargo capacity.
The airline also focused on repatriation flights and has been the airline governments have chosen to transport passengers back home. They were the only airline to carry on with flights into China despite the increase in patient cases on the mainland.
Ethiopian Airlines has demonstrated how an enterprise can survive in extremely difficult times through forethought, dedication and planning.