Ethiopian Group’s immediate CEO change
Tewolde GebreMariam, who led the Ethiopian Airlines Group for more than a decade, has requested early retirement from his board of management, to focus his on his medical treatment.
Under his leadership, the airline group grew four-fold in all measurements (for example number of aircraft – 33 to 130; annual turnover – USD 1 to 4.5 billion), and built more than USD 700 million worth of infrastructure, including a new cargo terminal.
A media release said that “the board, senior management, employees and everyone at Ethiopian Airlines expresses their gratitude for his contribution and wishes him a full recovery.”
Only few hours later the appointment of Mesfin Tasew Bekele (pictured) as the new group CEO was announced. Bekele has 38 years of experience in airline management and operations in the fields of aircraft maintenance and engineering, procurement, information technology, flight operations, capability development, capacity building, development of corporate strategies, airline operation management and corporate leadership. (cj)