Ethiopian Airlines, Africa’s largest carrier by revenue, increased its profit by 12% to 3.53b Ethiopia birr ($165.4m) in 2014-15 despite declining air traffic on the continent. The fiscal crisis in African oil producers due to the falling crude price, the effects of the Ebola crisis on travel and instability in Africa and the Middle East weighed the industry down, CEO Tewolde Gebremariam said. “The year was characterized by a challenging operating environment,” he said in the company’s annual report. Ethiopian Airlines was able to keep growing by managing its spending and selling services including catering, ground handling and aircraft maintenance to other airlines helped maintain profitability, he said. The group, which also operates Togo’s ASKY Airlines and Malawian Airlines, is aiming for $10b revenue in about a decade. Operating revenue increased 6% from a year earlier to 49.5b birr in the fiscal year that ended July 7, the company said. The state-owned company ordered 20 Boeing 737 MAX 8s worth more than $2.1b, and has the option to purchase 15 more, it said. <br/>
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Ethiopian Airlines is negotiating with Rwanda’s national carrier RwandAir for a 49% stake in the African airline, CEO Tewolde Gebremariam said. “Ethiopian Airlines and RwandAir are discussing expanding their cooperation. The discussion is still at an early stage and we have not yet progressed to the equity discussion level,” Gebremariam said. State-owned RwandAir continues to establish its Central Africa hub in the capital Kigali. The carrier is seeking a strategic partner to help boost its competitiveness. Ethiopian’s interest in RwandAir is part of the carrier’s Vision 2025 business plan; the Star Alliance member has already developed hubs in West Africa by ASKY Airlines in Lomé and in Southern Africa through Malawian Airlines in Lilongwe. Under Ethiopian’s Vision 2025 strategic plan, it is establishing itself as an aviation group with seven business units—international airline, regional airline, cargo, MRO, aviation academy, catering services and ground services.<br/>
Swedish police say a stowaway has been found alive in the cargo hold of a passenger jet from Ethiopia. The man was found in a freight container after the Ethiopian Airlines plane landed Monday at Stockholm's Arlanda Airport. Stockholm police said the man was "exhausted but alive" and applied for asylum in Sweden when he was discovered. They said they passed his asylum request to immigration officials while they launched an investigation into suspected human smuggling.<br/>
United Continental, which expects to welcome back CE Oscar Munoz next week after a lengthy medical leave, said Monday that it added three new independent directors to its 12-member board, and possibly will add another shortly. The airline made the changes leading up to Saturday’s internal deadline for director nominations ahead of its annual meeting, which normally falls in June. United said certain current board members will step down at or before the annual meeting, but declined to say which directors will depart or how many. The new directors will be nominated by the board for re-election at the annual meeting. Named to the board were two executives with airline experience. They are Robert Milton, 55, who spent years guiding Air Canada in executive roles and is now the lead director of Air Lease Corp., and James Whitehurst, 48, who spent six years at Delta in airline operations before moving on to helm Red Hat Inc., which provides open-source technology products and services. The third new director is James Kennedy, 62, former CEO of T. Rowe Price, an investment management firm. S&P Global Market Intelligence said Monday that Munoz’s imminent return and the appointment of three new directors are much needed steps in accelerating the pace of improvement at the airline and adding independent voices to its board.<br/>