ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) -Ethiopian Airlines’ revenue rose 8% in the 2024/25 financial year, helped by higher passenger numbers and additional routes although it faced challenges on some routes due to conflicts, Chief Executive Mesfin Tasew Bekele said on Tuesday.
The state-owned carrier, Africa’s biggest airline, saw passenger numbers increase by 11% to 19 million in the financial year that ended July 7, Mesfin told a press conference.
Revenue rose 8% from a year earlier to $7.6 billion, but growth slowed from the 15% recorded in 2023/24.
“It was a good performance despite global challenges,” Mesfin said, citing conflicts in Sudan, the Middle East and Democratic Republic of Congo.
He added that some law changes in the United States had affected the airline’s operations there.
Ethiopian has a fleet of more than 150 aircraft. On Saturday, it took delivery of its fourth Airbus A350-1000 plane.
In June, Bekele said the airline was looking into the possibility of ordering at least 20 regional or small narrow-body jets as part of plans to expand its domestic fleet and replace some ageing aircraft.
The airline is among several facing grounded aircraft due to bottlenecks in engine maintenance plants.
Mesfin said the airline had added six new routes in 2024/25.
Last year, it signed an agreement for the design of a new mega four-runway airport near the town of Bishoftu, around 45 km (28 miles) southeast of the capital Addis Ababa, which will be Africa’s biggest airport when construction is completed in 2029.
The airport will have capacity to handle 100 million passengers a year and provide parking for 270 aircraft.
(Reporting by Dawit Endeshaw; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Susan Fenton)
