The Ethiopian Airlines is to implement a new restructuring program that will transform the airline into an aviation investment group.
The management of Ethiopian Airlines has recently developed a 15-year development strategy dubbed “Vision 2025” aimed at making it a world class airline. A senior executive of Ethiopian, who declined to be named, told Aviation News the main objective of the development strategy is to restructure the national flag carrier into an aviation investment group which will have six subsidiary companies. The executive said Ethiopian will commercialize its different departments including the MRO centre, Cargo Service, Catering, and Aviation Academy.
Based on the development plan, under a parent company, Ethiopian will have six different business units. The domestic flight service will be incorporated as a new domestic airline that will have its own management team. This domestic airline (ET Domestic) will feed passengers to the major airline that will render international flight services.
The second subsidiary company will be ET Technical. By commercializing its maintenance and engineering department ET Technical will be a separate business entity that will provide line maintenance, repair and overhaul service.
Ethiopian will also incorporate its Cargo department into a new company dubbed ET Cargo Services.
The Ethiopian flight school and the aircraft maintenance technicians training centre will also be upgraded into an African aviation academy that will operate as a separate business unit. The pilot and technicians training schools have been training Ethiopian and foreign nationals mainly from African countries. The aviation academy will increase its capacity and expands its market share by admitting more trainees from African and Middle East countries. In addition to basic flight education it will render simulator training services to Ethiopian and foreign pilots. The flight school has simulators of B767,757 and 737. It is planning to acquire B787 simulator soon.
The other subsidiary company will be ET Catering which will provide in-flight catering services to ET Domestic, ET International and foreign carriers. The other business unit is of course the flag carrier it’s self.
With the 15-year development program Ethiopian plans to boost its annual revenue to $10 billion from the current $1.3 billion; and the number of aircraft to more than 100 from 43. The national flag carrier has attained its five year development plan “Vision 2010” by raising its annual revenue to $1 billion.