Ethiopian Voted Africa's Best Business Class Airline by Passengers in China - 23 December, 2013

Ethiopian Airlines the fastest growing and most profitable airline in Africa has been voted as "Africa's Best Business Class Airline" by passengers at the 9th Annual Best Travel Media Award ceremony held on 18 December 2013 in Beijing, China, in the presence of over 200 top travel professionals, travel agents, national tourism office representatives, and the media across China. Best Travel Media is the leading travel media in the Chinese market and reaches over 200,000 professionals in the travel industry. Its annual award is based on online voting by travel professionals, travel agents, consumers and the media. Ethiopian won the award by getting more votes than other nominees in the category. Ethiopian recently celebrated 40 years of reliable service to China. Today the airline has 28 weekly flights to 4 destinations in China (Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Beijing, and Hong Kong), using the most modern aircraft such as the B787 and B777. Ethiopian is finalizing preparations to start operations to Shanghai starting in summer 2014. Tewolde Gebremariam, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines Group, said, "I would like to thank our Chinese customers for their strong vote of confidence. This award recognizes our global standard product with superior service delivery. With 28 weekly non-stop flights from four Cities in China operated with the superior comfort of the B787 Dreamliner and the B-777-200LR Worldlier, with SkyTrax award winning staff service and with efficient connections to 49 cities in Africa and Brazil, we are confident that Ethiopian is an airline of choice in the Chinese travelling public. We have recruited and will soon deploy Chinese speaking cabin crew on our flights to China. We have completed the second phase of the expansion of our Business Class (C-9) lounge at our main hub in Addis Ababa and plan to undertake more expansions and to include new amenities for the on-ground comfort of our premium customers. Soon, we plan to hire on-ground Chinese speaking staff at Addis Ababa Airport." Ethiopian is the winner of the 2013 SKYTRAX award for "Best Airline Staff Service in Africa" and the Passengers Choice Award for "Best Airline in Africa. About Ethiopian Ethiopian Airlines (Ethiopian) is the fastest growing Airline in Africa. In its operations in the past close to seven decades, Ethiopian has become one of the continent's leading carriers, unrivalled in efficiency and operational success. Ethiopian commands the lion share of the pan-African passenger and cargo network operating the youngest and most modern fleet to more than 78 international destinations across five continents. Ethiopian fleet includes ultra-modern and environmentally friendly aircraft such as the Boeing 787, Boeing 777-300ER, Boeing 777-200LR, Boeing 777-200LR Freighter and Bombardier Q-400 with double cabin. In fact, Ethiopian is the first airline in Africa to own and operate these aircraft. Ethiopian is currently implementing a 15-year strategic plan called Vision 2025 that will see it become the leading aviation group in Africa with seven business centers: Ethiopian Domestic and Regional Airline; Ethiopian International Passenger Airline; Ethiopian Cargo; Ethiopian MRO; Ethiopian Aviation Academy; Ethiopian In-flight Catering Services; and Ethiopian Ground Service. Ethiopian is a multi-award winning airline registering an average growth of 25% in the past seven years.