Ethiopian Airlines group chief executive officer Tewolde GebreMariam has been awarded Air Cargo Leadership Award in the Airline Strategy Awards ceremony organized by Flight Global in London on Sept. 27, 2021. The Airline Strategy Awards is launched by Airline Business to recognize excellence in boardroom leadership and awarded 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.
GebreMariam 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 into 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 the 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.”
The air cargo leadership category of Airline Strategy Awards is for the chief executive or management team that has demonstrated excellence in leading a cargo carrier or cargo business unit during the Covid-19 crisis. This category applies to all types of air-cargo carriers and businesses – including scheduled, charter, ACMI/wet-lease, and integrator, whether they are operating independently, as a dedicated air-cargo business, or as a freight division of a passenger airline group.
Proceeding the award Graham Dunn, head of content at FlightGlobal and host of The Airline Strategy Awards said, “The best airline leaders have shown agility and flexibility to adapt operations through what is the most sustained and deepest crisis the industry has faced. At the same time, the strongest leaders have positioned their businesses to take advantage of market opportunities as travel and wider economies open up again. High-quality leadership matters more than ever, with airlines led by the most skillful management teams best-placed to emerge strongly from the crisis. The Airline Strategy Awards have recognized the best in boardroom leadership since 2002, and 2021’s winners all excel in this regard.”
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 a 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.
