Ethiopian Airlines, which lost over half a billion dollars in a few months after coronavirus outbreak, is now recovering making US$120M revenue from cargo, says CEO.
Ethiopian Airlines Group, Mr. Tewolde GebreMariam told the state news wire on Monday that Ethiopian Airlines has made US$120M revenue in a month, which enabled the state-owned aviation group to cover all its monthly expenses.
Focusing on cargo flights has enabled Ethiopian Airlines to survive the hardship aviation business has been facing after the outbreak of the global pandemic. Mr. Tewolde indicated that now Ethiopian Airlines is transporting 200 to 300 tons of fresh-cut flowers daily.
He also stated that during the latest Muslim’s fasting season – Holy Month of Ramadan – Ethiopian Airlines has also managed to make some money transporting meat from Ethiopia to the Middle east countries.
Recently Ethiopian Airlines has indicated that it has converted its 22 passenger aircrafts to cargo, which enabled the airline to use the fleets for transporting goods.
After the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19), Ethiopian Airlines was forced to cut 90 percent of its passenger flights, which was its major revenue source.
In early April, Ethiopian Airlines indicated that it has lost US$550M revenue because of COVID-19, which led to suspending passenger flights.
During the current fiscal year which started July 8, 2019, Ethiopian Airlines was aiming to make US$5B revenue in one year, according to Mr. Mesfin Tassew, head of Ethiopian Airlines Operations, who spoke with the state daily Amharic newspaper, Addis Zemen on Thursday last week.
Mr. Mesfin indicated that until it is forced to suspend most of its passenger flights in January 2020, Ethiopian Airlines was on track of meeting its revenue target for the year.
After many countries are forced to halt movements of people following the outbreak of the global pandemic, the global travel and hospitality industries are among the highly impacted businesses losing billions of dollars.
Source: New Business Ethiopia