Ethiopian Wins Passengers Award as Best in Africa - 17 September, 2014

Ethiopian Airlines, the largest airline in Africa, is pleased to announce that it has won the Passenger Choice Awards for "Best Airline in Africa" for the second time in a row at the APEX 2014 EXPO held between 15 and 18 September 2014 in the Anaheim Convention Centre in California.

The Passenger Choice Awards were created by the US based Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX) to give voice to airline passengers. APEX encompasses the largest and most comprehensive survey of passengers in 13 languages. It is the most important award in the airline industry since it is the customers themselves, who rate airlines based on their overall experience.

CEO Tewolde Gebremariam of Ethiopian Airlines Group said, "Ethiopian is above all a customer-focused airline with global standard service with superior delivery through its hallmark Ethiopian flavored African hospitality. Passenger Choice is the most important award in our industry since it is our customers, who rate us by benchmarking our service with others in the industry. This award is a strong vote of confidence by our customers and an encouragement to continuously enhance our on-ground and on-board services with a view to meet their high expectations. I wish to thank them for their vote of confidence and our employees for working hard day-in and day-out to make our airline shine high in the sky."

Dominic Green, APEX Events and EXPO Chair, said "In 13 languages and available around the globe, the Passenger Choice Awards is by far one of the most impressive and comprehensive passenger surveys of its kind". It’s a huge benefit to the airline industry to have this kind of candid data at their fingertips, and it’s the passengers who ultimately benefit from it."

Ethiopian was also among the finalists, among other global airlines, for "Best overall flight experience", "In-flight video" and "In-flight magazine" at the 2014 Passenger Choice Awards.

About Ethiopian

Ethiopian Airlines (Ethiopian) is the fastest growing and most profitable airline in Africa. In 2014, IATA ranked Ethiopian as the largest airline in Africa in revenue and profit. In its operations in the past close to seven decades, Ethiopian has been a pioneer of African aviation as an aircraft technology leader providing the first jet service in the continent in 1962, and availing the first African B767 in 1984, the first African B777-200LR in 2010 and the first African and second only to Japan B787 Dreamliner in 2012.

Ethiopian commands the lion share of the pan-African passenger and cargo network operating the youngest and most modern fleet to more than 83 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 airline group in Africa with seven strategic business units: Ethiopian International Passenger Service; Ethiopian Regional Service; Ethiopian Cargo; Ethiopian MRO; Ethiopian Aviation Academy; Ethiopian In-flight Catering Service and Ethiopian Ground Service. Ethiopian is a multi-award winning, including SKYTRAX and Passenger Choice Awards in 2013 and has been registering an average growth of 25% per annum in the past seven years.