According to the CEO of Africa’s largest airline, Ethiopian Airlines has been profitable and cash-flowing thanks to booming demand for air cargo.
The air cargo market has been one of the unique strengths of the industry over the past two years. Thanks to rising fares, an immediate consequence of the e-commerce shopping boom and mediated by the lack of belly cargo supply and supply chain disruptions, demand for cargo space is at record levels.
Tewolde Gebremariam, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, told Reuters that “for our airline the cargo business is strong, and I would venture to say that it is the mainstay of the group”. According to Gebremariam, the airline is operating “close to 70% of its pre-pandemic capacity”, and has granted salary increases and bonuses to staff. “We are liquid and profitable,” he added.
The executive went on, criticizing the uncoordinated global policy to combat the pandemic. Gebremariam pointed out that while passenger travel demand is improving year over year and 2022 is expected to be better for airlines than last year, the industry is still a long way from fully recovering from the crisis. Governments’ “fragmented and uncoordinated responses to the pandemic have led to bottlenecks and slowed the recovery” of passenger travel, he said.
