Ethiopian airline

Ethiopian Aviation Academy has announced the graduation of 262 aviation professionals comprising 50 pilots, 66 technicians, 120 cabin crew and 26 Equipment and Facility Maintenance technicians.

A statement by Ethiopian Airlines on Monday in Abuja said 10 of the professionals majored in Industrial Mechanics while 16 specialised in Industrial Electricity.

The Managing Director of the airline, Mr Tewolde GebreMariam, said that the graduates included a total of 34 Cameroonian, Rwandese, Equatorial Guinean, Togolese and Congolese nationals.

GebreMariam said the development testified to Ethiopian Pan African stance and key role in the development of African aviation.

“Education is the greatest equalizer in our world today and Human Resource Development (HRD) is one of the Four Pillars of our Vision 2025 Strategic Growth Plan.

“In line with this belief we have invested adequately in capacity building in the Ethiopian Aviation Academy, which is the largest and most modern in the continent of Africa.

“The Academy has been training and graduating the required Aviation Professionals both for Ethiopian Airlines Group and other partner airline around the region.

“It has the capacity to support our vision 2025 growth plan with adequate aviation professionals and to contribute its share towards the development of Aviation in Africa,” he said.

Gabremariam disclosed that the academy was currently training 2,000 aviation professionals per annum and promised to enhance its intake capacity to 4,000 by 2025.

He added that the airline had been recognized as Middle East and Africa Airline of the Year 2017 by Airline Economics, the largest aviation finance and leasing print publication in the world.

“Ethiopian outperformed major airlines in the Middle East and Africa to win this prestigious award.

“It is a tremendous honour to be recognized as Airline of the Year and to stand out from among the major Middle East and African carriers through a vote of the readers of one of the most renowned aviation magazines, Airline Economics,”  he said.