Ethiopian Airlines Resume Work, Focuses on Business and Leisure Customers

Ethiopian Airlines has opened up its services to business and leisure travelers with programmes aimed at safeguarding their health and safety.

The program reinforces Ethiopian pledge to protect the health and safety of its customers and staff. It includes the steps the airline is taking to maintain customer and staff wellbeing through-out the service chain beginning from the first interaction with customers during ticketing/reservation and up to arrival at destination.

Ato Tewolde G. Mariam, Group CEO of Ethiopian, noted that “Ethiopian is proud to be there when the world needed it most – repatriating citizens, re-uniting families, facilitating essential travel and transporting much needed medical and personal protective equipment (PPE) for health professionals and the general public under very difficult and challenging circumstances. We are proud to be an integral part of the fight against COVID-19. Now we want to play a leading role in the new-normal. To a very large extent, it’s about getting back the confidence of business and leisure travelers. With the protective measures we are taking in line with CDC, IATA, ICAO and WHO guidelines, customers and staff can rest assured that their safety and health are well looked after when flying with us”.

Customers are advised to check travel restrictions of destination countries prior to arriving at the airport for a flight. Facemasks will be mandatory for travel. Except children under the age 2, all customers must keep their masks on throughout their journey. All customer-facing staff will wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs). This includes ticket offices, airport and lounge staff, as well as cabin crew. Onboard service is redesigned to minimize contact while maintaining our African flavored Ethiopian hospitality. Items, such as magazines, menus and other reading materials, that were traditionally shared will no longer be available, according to the press statement from Ethiopian Airlines.

As countries continue to open their borders and relax travel restrictions, Ethiopian has said it is ready to increase frequencies to accommodate the demand by focusing on the wellbeing of customers and staff.

The Airline carried more than 13.3 million passengers in the 12 months to the end of May 2019, a rise of 11.6 percent as compared with the same period a year earlier. The state-owned, Ethiopian Airlines, flies to 100 international destinations, as well as 21 domestic routes across the continent, and it also has an air freight service. The negative impacts of the COVID-19 has a devastating impacts on the general aviation.