Ethiopian Airlines appoints COO Mesfin Tasew as new CEO

An Ethiopia’s Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 plane to take off on a demonstration trip to resume flights from the Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia February 1, 2022. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri

The state-owned carrier's board Chairman Girma Wake, told a news conference that Mesfin had been chosen to lead the group after serving in his present post for 10 years. He is also the chief executive officer of Togo-based ASKY Airlines, which serves markets in West and Central Africa and has a strategic partnership with Ethiopian Airlines.

Separately, Ethiopian Airlines said its total revenue for the 2020/21 (July-June) financial year was $3.51bn. It did not immediately give a comparative figure for 2019/20.

"Ethiopian Airlines was admired by industry players for not only making profit, but for managing its balance sheet without any bailout money and employee layoffs," Ethiopian Airlines said in a presentation after naming its new CEO.

Outgoing CEO Tewolde has led Ethiopian Airlines since 2011, growing it to a fleet of 131 planes operating on local and international routes, from just 50 planes in 2015.

Tewolde said in April 2020 that between January and then, the airline had lost $550m because of the coronavirus outbreak.

In January, he said the airline was profitable and cash positive, helped by booming air cargo demand.

The air freight market has been a rare bright segment for airlines over the past two years, with a jump in online shopping and pandemic-linked supply chain disruptions driving demand for cargo space.