Girma wake biography of rory

The 1. The 12 planes the airline had increased by more than three-fold to 37, and the airline"s fleet was one of the youngest globally. After he stepped down in and was replaced by Tewolde Gebremariam, he became chairman of the United Insurance Company. Inhe became chairman of Rwandair, the flag carrier of Rwanda. Girma stayed at the airline for nearly three decades, until debates in between the new Ethiopian People"s Revolutionary Democratic Front government and the airline leadership led to several resignations, including that of Girma.

The airline went from having one codeshare agreement to becoming as a member of Star Alliance, which it joined in Back to Profile. Next article Defense force rejects food diversion allegations, vows action if members involved. MPs question arbitrary execution of corridor development projects across EHRC reports increase in extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances.

The imperative to forge national consensus. More like this Related. A committee was formed to undertake a study on the reorganizational plan. Government officials and executives of the airline were members of the committee. I was also one of the committee members representing the management. While we were working on the study I had frequent disagreements with the government representatives led by former Minister of Defense, Siye Abraha.

I did not like the way they wanted to do things. It contravenes the working procedures of the airline. I told them that it was a wrong move and we entered into a feud. They told me to do what I was told to do. I could not accept that. I was called to the prime minister office. Tamrat Layne was the prime minister at that time. I was told to attend a meeting there.

Since I did not believe in the whole process that they were doing I had no interest to attend the meeting. So I told them that if they believed that what they were doing would benefit the airline they could do the study by their own and I did not want to be an obstacle. I told them that I wanted to leave. I submitted a resignation letter and was released off my duty.

I was idle for five months in Addis Ababa. I left the airline I loved and served for 27 years not because I wanted a better pay but the situation was not conducive. I could not work in that hostile environment. How did you return to Ethiopian Airlines? Later I was told that what the points I raised were appropriate. They said my arguments were correct and they asked me to return to the airline which I declined.

Finally the then board chairman of the airline, Seyoum Mesfin former minister of Foreign Affairs asked me to take over the helm of the airline when the general manager, Bisrat Nigatu, resigned. Seyoum called me for a meeting and we had a long discussion. He told me that the airline needs some assistance. Was the airline in trouble?

Girma wake biography of rory

It was not in a bad shape but there were some disagreements. There was miss trust between the management and the board of the airline. There were some reform that needed to be done. When Seyoum told me that the airline needs my help and he would be very grateful if I can return and take the leadership role I accepted the request. I told them that I was not coming back home for money.

I was coming come back because I wanted to serve the airline I love. I wanted to contribute my share to the airline where I grew up. But I set pre conditions. What were your preconditions? I told them that the government and the board should not interfere in the day to day operation of the airline. Neither the board nor the government should tell me where to fly, whom to appoint etc.

Then I and executives of the airline together with the consultants worked on the study. It was a five year strategic plan dubbed Vision What were the major objectives of the strategic plan? At that time the airline annual traffic was 1. In the strategic study we planned to grew the passenger traffic to three million. The annual revenue was million dollars and we set a plan to increase it to a whopping million dollars.

I said it was okay let us make it one billion dollars. We had 28 aircraft and planned to grow the number of aircraft to We planned to girma wake biography of rory the profit from 31 million dollars to 75 million. Many had criticized the plan. They commented that the targets were not achievable. But we were confident that we would achieve our targets because we set the target based on the findings of our study.

We started working on the plan and we achieved most of our targets byahead of schedule. What were your main achievements? We had to enhance our capacity. To build our capacity we had to strengthen our training center. We built the capacity of the training center. There were some facilities that we lack. We built new cargo terminal.

We substantially increased aircraft utilization. We boosted flight frequencies. Our operational cost increased but our revenue also grew. We offered better choices for our passengers. Accordingly, our customer base expanded. Our passenger traffic increased significantly. Can you substantiate your achievements with numbers? In JuneGirma was replaced as chairman by Yilma Merdassa, who is the head of the Ethiopian Air Force [ 4 ] The company stated in a press release that Girma's "contribution to the growth and success of the airline group has been enormous and will take a special place in the history of the group" [ 5 ].

Girma was born in in Yeka district, Addis Ababa. Girma joined Ethiopian Airlines upon his graduation in At the time, the airline was dominated by Americansprimarily from TWAwhich had assisted in the airline's development. Girma was one of the first Ethiopians to rise in the airline's executive hierarchy. Girma, then 60, was at first reluctant to take the position but he eventually relented with the intention for only staying in the post for five years and also serving the carrier without government interference under his leadership.

It carried 1. Girma spent most of devising a plan with the assistance from the local branch of Ernst and Young. The plan that was formulated was Vision that was launched inhowever the plan was received with skepticism.