For the 11 years between 2010 and 2021, Bekele was the
chief operations officer (COO) of the Ethiopian Airlines Group, based at the group headquarters in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital city. Having joined the airline in 1984, he has served in various roles, including in airline engineering, maintenance and management. Other areas include "aircraft procurement, flight operations and strategic development". As CEO of Ethiopian Airlines Group, he will lead over 17,000 employees, replacing
Tewolde Gebremariam, the previous CEO, who retired on 23 March 2022, for health reasons. ==See also==