Staff Reporter
Windhoek-Ethiopian Airlines Group, the largest cargo operator and logistics centre in Africa, has been crowned the Rising Star Carrier of the Year both in industry and customer choice. The shining light of Africa’s aviation industry, Ethiopian received the award at the Payload Asia Awards 2017 gala dinner and awards ceremony recently held in Singapore.
Payload Asia magazine, a respected voice of the air cargo industry, honours excellence in the sector with more than 90 nominations competing for 20 awards categories and more than 25,000 online votes in the Customer Choice Awards, with the results ultimately audited by an independent auditing firm, Alpes Assurance.
Group CEO Ethiopian Airlines, Tewolde GebreMariam, said: “We are glad that Ethiopian Cargo & Logistics Services is recognized as the Rising Star Carrier of the Year for the third year in a row. As one of the strategic business units under the Ethiopian Airlines Group, Ethiopian Cargo & Logistics Services has been one of the success stories in the effective implementation of our ambitious plan set in our long-term strategic roadmap, Vision 2025: currently operating in a state of the art cargo terminal, capable of accommodating one million tons per annum, flying to 44 global freighter destinations using the most modern fleet, B777 freighter. Supporting export of perishables and import of high value goods of the booming Ethiopian economy and the entire African continent, Ethiopian Cargo & Logistics Services is playing vital roles in the growth of trade, investment and economic integration.
“Infrastructure development being one of the four pillars of our fast, profitable and sustainable growth strategic roadmap, Vision 2025, we have embarked building the second phase, Cargo Terminal III, which will add another 600,000 tonnes annual capacity and position Ethiopian Cargo & Logistics Services among the world’s largest cargo terminals equivalent to cargo terminals in Amsterdam Schiphol, Singapore Changi, or Hong Kong.
“Finally, I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate our cargo team for the job well done and encourage them to achieve more success.”