Wednesday, April 26, 2017

452 Professionals Graduate From Ethiopian Aviation Academy

Ethiopian Aviation Academy, the largest aviation academy in Africa, a full International Civil Aviation Organisation TRAINAIR Plus member and International Air Transport Association Authorised Global Training Centre, has graduated 452 aviation professionals.

The academy has graduated 35 pilots, 110 aviation maintenance technicians, 248 cabin crew and 59 commercial and ground service professionals.

A statement issued in Accra by Mrs Hanna Atnafu, Manager Corporate Communications, Ethiopian Airlines said this round of graduates include Rwandese, Libyan and Tanzanian nationals, which testifies to Ethiopian Pan African stance and key role in the development of African aviation.

Mr Mesfin Tassew, Chief Operating Officer, Ethiopian Airlines, congratulated and welcomed the new graduates to the airline’s dedicated workforce and gave out diplomas to all the graduates, flight wings to graduating pilots and cabin crew and achievement award to graduates with outstanding academic performance.

He said: “It gives us great pleasure to witness your graduation few days after we successfully hosted the ICAO Global Aviation Training and TRAINAIR PLUS symposium, held for the very first time in Africa.”

He said the event had created an ideal platform for fruitful deliberations among aviation professionals from all corners of the globe, focusing on human resources development as one of the four major pillars of the company’s fifteen years’ growth plan, Vision 2025.

“We are continually striving to ensure self-sufficiency in meeting the growing skilled manpower requirement and avail competent aviation professionals throughout the continent and beyond,” he added.

Currently, the academy trains 1,500 youths per annum and it envisages enhancing its intake capacity to 4,000 by 2025.
GNA/www.newsghana.com.gh Read more here

Ethiopian Airlines Wins Outstanding Food Service Award

Ethiopian Airlines Inflight Catering, the largest single in-flight catering facility in Africa, has won the Outstanding Food Service by a Carrier in Africa Awards on PAX International Readership Awards 2017 held in Hamburg, Germany.

A statement issued in Accra by Mrs Hanna Atnafu, Manager Corporate Communications, Ethiopian Airlines, said through an online balloting process from the magazine’s website, 25 awardees from airlines, airline caterers and suppliers of seating, inflight entertainment and amenity items have been honoured by readers of PAX International Magazine.

Mr Tewolde GebreMariam, Group CEO Ethiopian Airlines, said: “Readers of PAX International have spoken out loud and clear and unanimously voted Ethiopian as an outstanding inflight Food Service in Africa.”

He said as a customer focused airline, the company worked very hard to exceed customer expectations in customer services on ground and in the air and moreover, their international kitchens, specialising in Chinese, Halal, Indian, Italian, Kosher, and Vegan meals, consume fresh and organic fruits and vegetables direct from the farm.

“Above all, our unique Ethiopian hospitality coupled with the variety of culinary experiences, will continue to induce an excellent ingredient and a new dimension to the already multiple award winning inflight services that we are very well known for in the industry,” he added.

Ethiopian recently inaugurated catering facility is capable of producing more than 100,000 meals every single day and it also offers on-board duty free items for multiple airlines, as well as VIP and charter flights, which often shuttle to and from Addis Ababa.

Ethiopian Catering has also redefined meal services for Business Class flyers; serving with glasses and dishes readied in a unique design, size and colour fitting Cloud-9 level, where each course is being orchestrated on lined passengers’ table in a wider space for dinning.

GNA/www.newsghana.com.gh

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YUM TO OPEN 10 ETHIOPIAN PIZZA HUTS IN AFRICAN EXPANSION

ADDIS ABABA - US fast-food giant Yum Brands Inc has signed a deal with Ethiopia's Belayab Foods and Franchise PLC to open 10 Pizza Hut restaurants in the Horn of Africa country as part of an expansion on the continent.

Pizza Hut will be the first major restaurant franchise to open an outlet in Ethiopia, Africa's second most-populous nation, which has become one of its fastest-growing economies.

"We will start off with three outlets first in six months’ time and open 10 stores within the next three years," Michael Ghebru, a shareholder of the project, told Reuters.

Kentucky-based Yum, which is also the parent of the KFC and Taco Bell chains, is no stranger to emerging markets with more than 1,000 restaurants in Africa. Its Pizza Hut franchise has 188 branches across the continent.

"Let's be prudent because in Africa there may be some levels of instability and also when you are opening some routes that take time," Ewan Davenport, General Manager of Pizza Hut Africa, said.

"But the sky is the limit. At the moment, we are looking at (opening) at least 50 stores a year."

Western retailers are increasingly targeting Africa, which is home to rising consumer spending and some of the world's fastest growing economies, albeit off a low base. Read more here

Jailed Ethiopian journalist named 2017 'World Press Freedom Hero'

Ethiopian journalist and blogger, Eskinder Nega, has been named the winner of a top press freedom award despite being in jail since 2011.

The International Press Institute (IPI) on Tuesday (April 25) named him as the winner of the ‘World Press Freedom Hero for this year.

Nega was imprisoned reportedly after criticizing his country’s abuse of anti-terror laws to silence the press. He becomes the IPI’s 69th World Press Freedom Hero.

Nega has spent over 2,000 days behind bars since his arrest on Sept. 14, 2011, when Ethiopian authorities accused him of “leading a plan to throw the country into serious political chaos through a series of terrorist acts” and linked him to a banned opposition group.

‘‘Nega has spent over 2,000 days behind bars since his arrest on Sept. 14, 2011, when Ethiopian authorities accused him of “leading a plan to throw the country into serious political chaos through a series of terrorist acts” and linked him to a banned opposition group.

‘‘His jailing came shortly after Nega, a persistent critic of Ethiopia’s former long-time ruler and then-Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, published a column questioning the government’s abuse of anti-terror laws to punish journalistic scrutiny,’‘ the IPI said in a press statement.

Following his arrest in 2011, a court subsequently convicted him in June 2012 on charges of “participation in a terrorist organization” and “planning, preparation, conspiracy, incitement and attempt of (a) terrorist act”.

IPI Executive Director Barbara Trionfi said the award was in recognition of Nega’s “unflinching dedication to the free exchange of ideas and information and his determination – at the expense of his freedom and separation from his family – not to remain silent in the face of the Ethiopian government’s cynical attempt to use the fight against terrorism to crush legitimate dissent.”

The journalist and his wife are not new to arrest and charges. He was arrested in 2005 along with his wife, journalist Serkalem Fasil, they were charged with treason over their coverage of government crackdown after legislative polls in the country.

This is not the first international award he has received. In 2014, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) honoured Nega with its Golden Pen of Freedom Award. In 2012, he also received the PEN American Center/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. Read more here

Saturday, April 22, 2017