Ethiopian Airlines said Friday that its full year net profit more than doubled to ETB1.3 billion birr (USD$118.6 million) from the previous year due to a marketing campaign and cost cuts.
The African carrier's operating revenue for the year to June rose 32.8 percent to ETB12.2 billion, chief executive Girma Wake said. Passenger numbers rose 12.3 percent to 2.8 million, while cargo increased 38.4 percent compared with the previous year.
"Our profits increased due to an aggressive marketing campaign and a major cost-cutting effort," a spokeswoman for the airline said. "We introduced seven new routes which also contributed to our growth, including routes to Saudi Arabia and Nigeria."
In 2007/08, it had made a net profit of ETB507 million.
Wake told a news conference that said Ethiopian Airlines had placed orders for five 777-200 LR (long range) planes made by Boeing, twelve A350-900s from Airbus and eight Q400 turboprops from Bombardier, at a total cost of USD$4.5 billion.
He said the airline had paid down payments for all the aircraft on order and planned to take out loans from European and US banks to pay for the balance.
Boeing is due to deliver the planes by 2010, while the Airbus aircraft are expected to be received by 2017, Girma said.
