Ethiopian Airlines cabin crew from an alumnus: the Addis training, salary in birr and dollar allowances, the network and why so many end up at the Gulf
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#1 Ethiopian alumni, now Emirates, and my bio says Addis trained me and Dubai pays me, which is the whole thread in a sentence, but the applicants in Accra, Nairobi and Lagos ask about Ethiopian as a first airline and the honest version deserves the space. Here it is, from someone who did four years there.
The Addis training
The Ethiopian Aviation Academy in Addis Ababa is the best cabin crew training on the continent and one of the best anywhere: the SEP, the service, the first aid, the fire and the wet drill on the Academy's own equipment, the trainers who have trained half of Africa's crew. The training is the reason the Gulf carriers hire Ethiopian alumni readily: they arrive trained to a standard the Gulf recognises. The course is long and demanding and the candidates who pass it can pass anything.
The salary in birr and the dollar allowances
The basic is paid in birr and the birr's movements have made the basic's dollar value fall over the years, which is the honest problem. The layover allowances on the international routes are paid in dollars and the crew who fly the long routes (the US, Europe, Asia) earn allowances that matter more than the basic. The total for a new joiner was a good Ethiopian salary and a modest international one, and the gap between the two is the reason for the last paragraph.
The network
The largest in Africa by a distance: the whole continent, the Gulf, Europe, the US (Washington, Newark, Chicago, Atlanta), Asia (the Chinese cities, Bangkok, Seoul, Tokyo, Mumbai, Delhi), and the Addis hub that connects them. A new joiner flies the African network and the Gulf first and bids onto the long haul with time. The destinations are the job's great reward: the crew see the whole continent and half the world.
The contract
A training bond for the Academy course, a contract that runs with the seniority structure, the accommodation not provided (the Addis crew live at home or rent in Addis, which is affordable), the medical, the tickets. The bond matters for the ones who plan to leave for the Gulf: the bond period must be completed or the bond repaid, and the Gulf carriers know this and the Ethiopian alumni they hire are the ones past the bond.
Why so many end up at Emirates and Qatar
The training is Gulf standard, the English is strong, the service culture is strong, and the salary gap is large: the same crew member earns multiples at Emirates of the Ethiopian total, with the accommodation provided. The Ethiopian alumni at the Gulf carriers are a large community (Grace's East Africans thread has the Dubai side) and the path is known: the Academy, the bond period, the Gulf application. Ethiopian knows it loses crew this way and trains more, and the ones who stay are the ones for whom Addis and the family and the seniority matter more than the gap.
For the applicants in Accra, Nairobi, Lagos and Addis
Ethiopian as a first airline is the best training on the continent, a real network, a modest salary with the birr problem, and a path to the Gulf that the Gulf carriers respect. The bond must be completed. The Addis life is affordable. And the ones who want to stay in Africa and fly the continent have no better door.
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#2 Emirates from Nairobi, and the Ethiopian alumni community in Dubai is large and the path Kwame describes (the Academy, the bond, the Gulf application) is the path half of them took. The training being Gulf standard is why the Emirates recruiters nod at the Ethiopian line on a CV. Honest thread.
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#3 Kenya Airways Nairobi, and the Ethiopian network being the largest in Africa by a distance is the thing the Kenya Airways crew admit across the apron, and the Academy is the thing we respect. The birr problem is the honest half. Kwame has both halves.
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#4 Africa World Airlines Accra, and the Accra applicants asking about Ethiopian as a first airline is a weekly thing and this is the answer: the best training on the continent, the bond, the path. The regional carriers like mine are the other door and the Academy is the better training. Fair.
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#5 Accra, waiting for the next Emirates event, and Ethiopian as the trained path to the Gulf is the option I had dismissed and should not have: the Academy, four years, the Gulf with the training the recruiters respect. Thank you Kwame, this changes my plan B.
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#6 Royal Air Maroc, Africa network specialist, and the two African networks (Ethiopian's and ours) are the continent's two serious ones and Kwame has described the bigger honestly. The crew who want to fly Africa have Addis and Casablanca and the Academy is the better school.
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#7 Qatar, Sudanese, and the Ethiopian alumni at Qatar are a community too and the ones I know are past the bond and were hired for exactly the training Kwame describes. The Gulf respects the Academy. The Addis life being affordable is the thing the applicants should hear alongside the birr problem.
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#8 Nairobi, applied to Kenya Airways and Qatar, and the Ethiopian path was not on my list and is now: the Academy as the training the Gulf respects, the bond, the application after. Two Nairobi applicants in this thread adjusting plans because of it. Thank you Kwame.
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#9 @samuelaccra and @melissak the Academy intake announcements are on the Ethiopian careers page and the Addis events recruit from the whole region; the bond is four years in practice and the Gulf application after it has the training behind it. Plan B is a strong plan.