Ethiopian wins the Brussels Airport Company Award - 27 October, 2008

Ethiopian Airlines has been awarded the 2008 Brussels Airport Marketing Award by the Brussels Airport Company. This prestigious award is given to Ethiopian in recognition of its distinguished long haul operations which have been manifested through the development of new routes, new products and close cooperation with Brussels Airport in marketing activities. Ethiopian is the first African carrier to be honoured for this prestigious award in Belgium.

The award plaque was presented to Mr. Tewolde G. Mariam, Chief Operating Officer of Ethiopian at the Brussels Airport Awards Gala Evening Dinner at the Sky Hall in the airport on October 23, 2008 in the presence of more than 500 airline representatives, travel agents, tour operations, and the travel press.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Tewolde said, “It is a special honor and privilege for Ethiopian to receive the marketing award in recognition of its efforts and results to develop the route between Addis Ababa and Brussels. Today, we are connecting Addis Ababa, the seat of the African Union and the capital of Africa and Brussels, the seat of the EU and the capital of Europe with daily services. Our code share cooperation with SN Brussels will also help us to further develop the route between the two hub gateways.”

According to the explanation by the Brussels Airport, Ethiopian won the award as the result of its initiative in increasing the frequencies of its Addis Ababa-Brussels flights from a three-weekly to a daily service, entering into a cooperative agreement with Brussels Airlines and opening a direct coach service to Brussels Airport from The Netherlands.

Ethiopian has been providing passenger flight services on this route since June 2006. Currently Ethiopian operates daily. Four flights operate from the Ethiopian Airlines’ hub Addis Ababa to Brussels via Frankfurt and the rest via Paris.

About 80 passenger airlines operate internationally to/from Brussels, the seat of the European Union and NATO. This is the second consecutive year that Brussels Airporthas organized its award ceremony.

Other than the passenger air service, Ethiopian has been operating cargo services to Belgium since 2004. A year ago Ethiopian started to operate B747 to cater for the growing demand of perishable goods and beans while its outbound flights carry general cargo ranging from office and household supplies to computers, pharmaceuticals, machinery and chemicals.

About Ethiopian

Ethiopian recently won the 2008 Corporate Achievement Award of Aviation & Allied Business for setting the pace and continued contribution towards the growth of African aviation industry.

Ethiopian Airlines, www.ethiopianairlines.com, one of the largest and fastest growing airlines in Africa made its maiden flight to Cairo in 1946. With the recent addition of new flight services to Ouagadougou and Lubumbashi, Ethiopian provides seamless services to 32 cities in Africa and to a total of 52 international destinations spread around the globe.

Ethiopian will be the first carrier to operate the 787 Dreamliner in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.