Ethiopian and Airbus Bring "The Little Engineer" Workshops to Ethiopian Students - 12 March, 2013

These workshops are taking place at Ethiopian Airlines’ Aviation Academy in the framework of celebration of the 50 th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty by the Embassies of French Republic and Federal Republic of Germany in Addis Ababa.

“As the fastest growing African airline, Ethiopian Airlines attaches great importance to the nurturing of young talents. In line with our Vision 2025, we aim to train and avail enough skilled aviation professionals to satisfy not just our growing needs but to also cater for the demand throughout Africa. We are proud to join efforts with Airbus in bringing “The Little Engineer” program to Ethiopia so as to acquaint and inspire young Ethiopian students to join our technology driven industry,” said Tewolde Gebremariam, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines. “

"Africa plays an important role in the future of aviation with an estimated demand of 957 new aircraft for the coming 20 years. Ethiopia’s estimated passenger growth for the same period stands at 8.1 per cent," said Alan Pardoe, Head of Marketing Communications for Airbus. "With its forward-thinking approach, Ethiopian Airlines has a lot to offer to the future of travel and to help in shaping it. We are very excited that Addis Ababa is one of our first destinations to conduct the TLE workshops."

Airbus has announced earlier this month a regional partnership with TLE as a result of on-going efforts to inspire and instill a passion for science and technology at an early age. It aims through this partnership to engage with more than 500 students in Africa and the Middle East in 2013.

About Ethiopian

Ethiopian Airlines, the fastest growing airline in Africa, made its maiden international flight to Cairo in 1946 and now the airline provides dependable services to 70 international destinations spanning four continents.

Ethiopian is proud to be a Star Alliance Member. The Star Alliance network is the leading global airline network offering customers convenient worldwide reach and a smoother travel experience. The Star Alliance network offers more than 21,555 daily flights to 1,356 airports in 193 countries.

Ethiopian is a multi-award winner for its commitment and contributions towards the development and growth of the African aviation industry and in recognition of its distinguished long-haul operations enhanced by the introduction of new routes and products. Recently, Ethiopian won "Airline Reliability Performance Award" from Bombardier Aerospace; "African Airline of the Year Award" from Air Transport Quarterly Magazine; "Transformation Award 2012" from Planet Africa Network; "International Diamond Prize for Excellence in Quality" from the European Society for Quality Research (ESQR). Also Captain Desta Zeru, Vice-President of Flight Operations, won "Africa Legend of Travel" award from African Travel Quarterly (ATQ) magazine; and Ethiopian Airlines CEO, Tewolde Gebremariam, won "African CEO of the year" from the African CEO Forum as well as "African Business Leader of the Year" award from the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA).

With its acquisition of and firm orders for several new modern aircraft, the airline is well positioned to pursue aggressively the implementation of its 2025 strategic plan to become the leading aviation group in Africa.