Ethiopia’s national flag carrier, Ethiopian Airlines, bagged 3.53 billion Birr profit during the 2014/2015 fiscal year. This is a 12 percent increment when compared to the airline’s previous year performance.

Ethiopian managed to secure the profit even if the continent’s air traffic has declined during the period.

Tewolde Gebremariam, Chief Executive Officer of the airline, explained the industry was affected by the Ebola crisis, instability in Africa as well as the Middle East and the fiscal crisis in African oil producers due to the falling crude price. “The year was characterized by a challenging operating environment,” the Chief Executive Officer furthered. According to him the airline kept growing and maintained profitability by managing its spending and selling services such as catering, ground handling and aircraft maintenance catering, ground handling and aircraft maintenance for other airlines.

The airline also disclosed operating revenue has increased by 6 percent and reached 49.5 billion Birr.

Ethiopian, which is exempted from paying income tax by the Ethiopian Government, has ordered 20 Boeing 737 MAX 8s that are worth more than 2.1 billion USD. The agreement also gives the airline the option to purchase 15 more of the airplanes.

Source: Bloomberg