Ethiopian Airlines privatisation "temporarily" halted

Following a review of its Flag Carrier, Ethiopia has "temporarily" suspended plans to partially privatise Ethiopian Airlines.

The announcement was made by Minister of Finance Ahmed Shide. He said the airline company has continued to generate much needed foreign currency for the country amid the pandemic.

Ethiopian Airlines is one of the few to stay relatively stable, largely due to a shift from passenger flights to cargo as countries closed their airspaces.

It changed 27 of its passenger planes into freight transportation. Partially privatising Ehiopian Airlines was part of the economic reforms ushered in after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018.

But now, it says that Africa’s largest airline will remain, for now, in the hands of the government.