IATA to Hold Africa Aviation Day in Collaboration with Ethiopian - 12 April, 2013
Ethiopian Airlines is pleased to announce that IATA will host Africa Aviation Day on April 16, 2013 in Addis Ababa under the theme Driving the Benefits of Aviation across the Continent. This will be the first time that IATA Africa Aviation Day is held in Ethiopia.
The Director-General and Chief Executive officer of IATA, Mr Tony Tyler, and close to a hundred airline representatives and aviation stakeholders from all over Africa will be attending the event.
We are very pleased to host this very important event, in partnership with IATA, for the first time in Ethiopia. On behalf of Ethiopian, I want to warmly welcome Mr. Tony Tyler, IATA Director-General and CEO to Ethiopia for the first time. We thank Mr. Tyler and his entire team for organizing this event and for choosing Addis Ababa, one of the preferred gateways to the continent, said Tewolde Gebremariam, CEO of Ethiopian.
During the workshop organized to mark Africa Aviation Day, we will be deliberating on the contribution of aviation as an essential driver of Africa’s socio-economic transformation. We will also discuss the daunting challenges facing the African aviation industry such as high fuel prices, high taxation and infrastructure limitations and how by working together we can ensure that our industry takes its rightful place in the ever increasing global competitive environment. This is a very important and timely event ahead of the IATA Annual General Meeting, which will be held in Cape Town, South Africa in June 2013, added CEO Tewolde.
During the Africa Aviation Day, topics such as aviation safety in Africa; financing aviation infrastructure in Africa; fuel impact on development of air transport, trade and tourism as well as developing aviation industry manpower in Africa will be addressed.
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).
