Tewolde GebreMariam, Chief Executive Officer, Ethiopian Airlines Group has been awarded with Air Cargo Leadership Award in the Airline Strategy Awards ceremony organised by Flight Global in London on September 27, 2021. The Airline Strategy Awards is launched by Airline Business to recognise excellence in boardroom leadership and awarded the Group CEO of Ethiopian, Tewolde GebreMariam and Ethiopian Airlines for the commendable air cargo leadership during the pandemic. The award is in recognition of the airlines agile strategies during the COVID 19 crisis through the CEO’s excellence in crisis leadership. Among the key criteria for the award are business performance, network strategy, innovative thinking during the crisis. Ethiopian is among the pioneers in reconfiguring its passenger aircraft to enhance its cargo capacity and responding to the soaring demand for shipments when the passenger business declined.
Tewolde GebreMariam, CEO, Ethiopian Airlines Group said, “I am very happy that Flight Global and the airline strategy award judging panel recognized our unique crisis management skills, agility, speed of decision making, creativity and resilience. Despite the enormity and devastation of the global pandemic crisis in the world in general and the aviation industry in particular, we at Ethiopian Airlines have successfully changed the crisis in to an opportunity. Accordingly, we have taken advantage of the booming cargo business and converted 25 of our passenger aircraft into freighters. We have done well by doing good to the global community by providing critical medical supplies, equipment and vaccines. I am very grateful to all Ethiopian management team, the board of Directors and the 17,000 plus hard-working employees for whom I have the greatest appreciation. I would also like to thank Airline Business and Flight Global for choosing me for the award.”
Ethiopian Airlines shipped essential medical supplies across the globe and received recognition from international organizations such as the WFP for its efficiency. Ethiopian also distributed more than 50million doses of vaccine to different countries. The airline didn’t just perform well in the cargo business but its role in providing humanitarian service has been appreciated.
