Ethiopian Airlines, the largest and the fastest growing airline in Africa, has won the Best Regional Airline of the Year award among airlines of all regions in the world by Air Transport World (ATW) at the 41st annual Air Transport World Airline Industry Achievement Awards ceremony held in Washington DC.
The awards, which are among the most coveted in the aviation industry, were created in 1974 to recognise excellence in the sector with the vote of the most renowned journalists of the industry.
Accepting the award, Tewolde Gebremariam, Chief Executive, Ethiopian Airlines Group, said: “I would like to thank the ATW Board and management for honouring us with this prestigious award. It is a special privilege for me to accept the award on behalf of the employees, management and the board of Ethiopian Airlines.
“The award is above all a testimony of the commitment and dedication of our more than 8,500 employees, who work hard day-in and day-out around the globe to make the airline shine high in the sky. I also thank our valued customers, partners and suppliers for their support in our fast, profitable and sustainable growth strategic road map of Vision 2025, which has made us the largest passenger and cargo airline in Africa. The award encourages us to double our efforts to earn the confidence of all our stakeholders with laser sharp focus on delivering superior customer services.”
The awards’ judges noted that Ethiopian, which has enjoyed robust growth since the start of the decade and is now the most profitable and largest airline in Africa based on fleet size and passengers flown, has shown outstanding capability in its efficient use of smaller aircraft, skillfully developing markets that are not part of its mainline international airline network. They also lauded Ethiopian, which topped the six million passenger mark in 2014, for its first-rate safety standards and consistent high standards of customer service.
Ethiopian is a pan-African global carrier operating the youngest fleet in the continent with an average of less than seven years and currently serving 84 international destinations across five continents with over 200 daily departures.
