Ethiopian Airlines (ET) has, in the first 8 months of its 2012/2013 Financial Year, generated USD1.35billion (ETB25.1billion) in revenue the Ethiopian Minister of Transport, Diriba Kuma has said.
Addressing the Ethiopian parliament in Addis Ababa on Monday, Mr Kuma stated that the national carrier had almost achieved its target of USD1.62billion (ETB30.1billion) for this year, despite tight air travel market conditions the world over.
Last year, Ethiopian generated USD1.82billion (ETB33.8 billion) in operating revenue, up 37% on the previous year, only to see its profits eroded by high fuel prices.
Amongst the measures his ministry is preparing regarding aviation in Ethiopia, Mr Kuma stated that the finalization of the final draft bill for air transport liberalization is under way and is likely to be a modified version of the June 2012 draft air transport policy which proposed to remove the prohibition on private airlines operating aircraft with more than 20 seats, as well as to allow foreign shareholders to invest in the Ethiopian aviation sector, albeit with a maximum 40% shareholding cap. At present, the aviation sector is restricted to Ethiopian nationals only.