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1. Purpose

The purpose of this policy and procedures is to establish guidelines for company
manual documentation and development standard. It also gives guideline for
company document retention period and electronics data handling.

2. Revision History

Date Revision Change Reference

Section
31 Oct 2007 Original New Procedure N/A
01/01/2010 1 Changed checklists to Ch. 11, header,
Forms & Annex to item 1,4,5,6,7
Appendices
21/06/2011 2 Change of organizational Sec. 5 and Sec. 7
structure and title of
affected post holders
Integration of Safety and
Corporate Quality
Assurance under one
department Included the
process map for manual
standardization.
02/12/2013 3 change of Organizational All
structure and title of
affected post holders

12/03/15 3.1 Change of title due to 7.1.9

reorganization of Safety
and CQA department.
15/12/2015 4 Change of sub permanent 7.1.9
revision 3.1 to
permanent revision
edition 4.
25-DEC-2017 05 Replacement of revision All
04 to full revision
12-APR-2018 06 Inclusion of procedure for
SOP development and
administration
01-AUG-2019 07 General Auditorial Review All
10-Aug--2020 08 General Review All
05-Oct-2021 09 Complete revision All

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3. Persons Affected

All Staffs

4. Policy

4.1. Ethiopian shall ensure compliance with ECAA regulations, company and industry
requirements with regards to documentation and standard.
4.2 Ethiopian shall ensure that all documentations contain the specifications and
procedures that define quality requirements
4.3. As a minimum, all Ethiopian airlines documents and record System addresses the
following: -
a. The provisions of Ethiopian Civil Aviation Rules and Standards (ECARAS), and
other regulatory requirements.
b. The Group Quality Policy (mission statement),
c. The organization structure, including Authority, Responsibility, procedures,
controls, process measurements, and interfaces,
d. Identification of those persons responsible for the development, establishment,
and management of the Quality system,
e. Documentation, including manuals, reports, and records including a distribution
list of controlled copies,
f. Quality procedures,
g. For all Manual hierarchy & approval please refer MPM Chapter 0, section 1.02.

5. Definitions

5.1 Working Manual:- is a controlled manual that contains the management

processes that support and guide the management function of envisioning,
empowering, leading and coaching.
5.2 Operational Manual: - is a controlled document that contains the operating
process that support and guide the operating activities of flight operations,
operational dispatch, aircraft engineering and maintenance or Maintenance
Repair Overhaul (MRO), ground handling, cargo operations, cabin operations

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and operational security.

5.3 Corporate Manual Standard: - is a standard that ensures manuals and forms are
designed in conformity to an organization-wide consistency in documentation
philosophy, format and presentation of content.

5.4 SOP: Standard Operating Procedure: is a procedure stating how each process
are performed in the respective department.

5.5 Effective Date: - is the specific date in which the Working Manual to take effect.

5.6 Revision Date: is the last revision date of the specific chapter for every chapter
and the last revision date of the manual for the entire manual.

5.7 Master Copy: is the manual bearing the original signatures of the approvers or
the manual duly approved on SharePoint.

5.8 Distribution Date: is the date whereby the manual is distributed/Uploaded on

the system to the users.

5.9 Document: a specification in manual and/or electronic form that prescribes courses of
actions to be implemented.

5.10 Form: a printed or typed document or electronic format with blank spaces for
insertion of required or requested information.

5.11 Record: a document that describes the history of an action that was implemented .

5.12 Operational Managers: All managers, Directors, VPs, Managing Directors, CCO and
COO.

5.13 Quality Manual – it is the document that describes the operator’s quality system it states
the certificate holder’s policy on, and commitment to, quality. It is the reference Manual that
serves as a reference point in reviewing and evaluating an operator’s quality system by both
the internal and Authority quality audits.

5.14 Quality Policy – An operator should establish a formal written Quality Policy Statement;
this is a commitment by the Accountable Manager on behalf of the organization to what the
Quality System is intended to achieve. The Quality Policy should reflect achievement and
continued compliance with Civil Aviation Rules and Standards, ECARAS.

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6. Responsibilities

6.1. Directors, Managers and Team Leaders are collectively responsible for the
development of working manuals, operational manuals, SOP’s and forms in
conformity to the procedures under item 7 below.

6.2. Team leaders and managers are responsible for revision of the manuals,
SOP’s and forms and to create awareness or training requirements for
employees working under them. They are also responsible to ensure only the
latest revisions of documents are in use.

6.3. Team leaders and managers are responsible to ensure manuals, SOP’s and forms are
approved minimum by respective VP’s or MD’s prior to implementations and duly approved
documents are in use.

6.4. All employees are responsible to have a full and comprehensive understanding
of the information and requirements of their manuals, SOP’s and forms within
their area of work and comply with the established procedures thereof. They are
also responsible to report inconsistencies and discrepancies they identify to their
immediate supervisors.

6.5. The Accountable Manager, Quality Manager, respective MDs and VPs and
Director Group QMS, SMS, ERP and Compliance, Manager Group SMS & ERP,
Managers Group QMS, Compliance & ACE and Operational/ divisional Quality
/Service Assurance and Safety Managers and Team Leaders are responsible to
assure compliance with the Regulatory requirements, company standards and
industry practices within Ethiopian.

7. Procedures

7.1 Content Specification

ET policies, procedures and SOPs shall be developed containing the following

elements. Policy and procedure developers shall: -
7.1.1 Write the “Purpose” by describing the objective(s) for writing a policy or
procedure.

7.1.2 Write the “Revision history” by showing list of document changes in the
policy and procedure.

7.1.3 Write “Persons affected” by identifying the users of the policy and
procedure.

7.1.4 Write the “Policy” statement by stipulating the general organizational

attitude of the company in implementing the course of action.

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7.1.5 Write the “Definitions” by defining the abbreviations, acronyms, forms,

words infrequently used and technical terms.
7.1.6 Write the “Responsibilities” statement by summarizing the roles and
responsibilities of all individuals involved in implementing the procedure.
7.1.7 Write the “Procedures” statement by defining and outlining the rules,
regulations, methods, timing, place, and personnel responsible for
accomplishing the policy.
7.1.8 Write auxiliary documents (Optional) such as forms, appendices, diagrams,
models, flowcharts, or cumbersome texts as an attachment to the policy
and procedures.
7.1.9 To ensure conformity with the forgoing, manual developers shall consult
GQMS, SMS, ERP and Compliance for guidance before, during and after
writing the policies and procedures.

7.2 Format Specification

Policies, procedures, SOP’s and forms & appendices shall be developed

observing the following human factor principles:
7.2.1 Prepare policies and procedures in a useable format for information
presentation, at the appropriate reading level and with the required degree
of technical sophistication and clarity.
7.2.2 Improve user performance through the use of effective and consistent
labels, symbols, colors, terms, acronyms, abbreviations, formats and data
fields.
7.2.3 Ensure the availability and usability of information to the user for specific
tasks, when needed, and in a form that is directly usable.
7.2.4 Design operational procedures for simplicity, consistency and ease of use;
7.2.5 Enable manual users to perceive and understand elements of the current
situation and project them to future operational situations;
7.2.6 Minimize the need for special or unique ET skills, abilities, tools or
characteristics;
7.2.7 Assess the net demands or impacts upon the physical, cognitive and

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decision-making resources of ET, using objective and subjective

performance measures.
7.2.8 To ensure conformity with all the forgoing, manual / SOP developers shall
conform to the Specification Layout of appendix II.

7.3 Manual Development and Standards

All Ethiopian Working Manuals should follow the below standards during
development, approval, distribution and retention processes.
7.3.1 The revision history to be inserted at the beginning of every chapter should
always be before the approval date of the manual.
7.3.2 The effective date should be specifically mentioned on the right top corner
of the pages. While setting the effective date the manual owner should
ensure not less than two weeks ahead is there for the manual approval as
well as distribution and synchronization by the user sections as necessary.
It is mandatory that all manuals confirmation of receipt or synchronization
on electronic personal equipment be completed before the effective date.
To this effect distribution date should always be we ahead before the
effective date. The effective date can be written also on the front cover
page.
7.3.3 The Master copy since the last full revision should always be retained by the
department for future reference purposes.
7.3.4 All out dated manuals other than the stated on 7.3.3 shall be discarded,
shredded.
7.3.5 A Compiled summary of notification of changes shall also be sent to all
manual recipients.
7.3.6 All Ethiopian manuals are prepared using the seven steps manual
preparation methodology except some of the operational manuals that are
required more detail procedures and pictures like cabin crew manuals.

7.4 For quality requirements on documentations

7.4.1 Ethiopian shall develop and apply specifications per IATA/CAA/ISO/Industry

practices.
7.4.2 Ethiopian shall identify relevant documents of Ethiopian in regard to QMS

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7.4.3 Ethiopian shall classify documents based on manual hierarchy.

7.5 Manual Specification Layout

1. Manual Folder/Holder/Cover Binder)

a) Size - Suitable to A4
- For up to 200 sheets/leaves Small
Cover (Length 31.3cm width
26.4cm, height 3.1cm)
- Between 200 up to 500
sheet/leaves –Medium Cover
(Length 31.3cm, width 26.4 cm,
height 8.2. cm)
- For above 500 sheets/leaves –
Large Cover (Length 31.3cm,
width 26.4cm, height 10.4.cm)
- For all SOPs use brown binders
b) Material type –
- Hard Plastic with three whole
punches for Emergency Response
Plan Manual (ERPM)
- Synthetic Leather with three
wholes
punch for the rest Manuals
c) Color: -
i. Emergency Response
Plan Manual (ERPM)-
Red
ii. Management Policy
Manual (MPM) – Black
iii. SOP-Brown (Brown
iv. For the rest of manuals
– Green
d) Logo on cover: -
i. Size including title
• width 115 mm (4 ½ inch)
• height 48 mm (17/8 inch)
ii. Alignment – bottom right
iii. Letters: -
▪ English –Font -Times New Roman
▪ Amharic – Font- Geez- 2
iv. Change case – Title Case
v. Color- Golden and engraved
e) Manual title at cover: -
I. Font at Front covers for all
manuals
▪ Size – 40
II. Font at shoulder for manuals over
400 pages
▪ Size – 40
III. Font Style – Regular
IV. Font Type – Times New Roman
V. Alignment
▪ At front cover from top edge: -
-Vertically above center
-Horizontally center
▪ At shoulder –Vertically Center
- Horizontally center

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vi. Change case - Upper Case i. Font Type —Verdana

2. Paper: - ii. Alignment - Horizontal center
a) Size (A4) c) Manual title
i. Width – 210mm (8 5/16”) i. Change case- title Case
ii. Length 297 mm (11 3/4”) ii. Font 12
b) Type – Normal iii. Font Style – Bold
c) Color – White iv. Spacing 60 from division/
3. Manual Cover Page department. Title
a) Change case – upper v. Font Type – Verdana
b)Font size 24 vi. Alignment horizontal center
c) Font Style – Bold d) Revision Record
d)Spacing – 72 from top margin i. Change case-title Case
e) Alignment – Horizontal center ii. Font 12
f) Font Type —Verdana iii. Font Style – Regular
g)Logo on manual cover page: - iv. Spacing 60 from manual title
i. Location – bottom right v. Alignment - horizontal center
ii. Color – black for hard copy or vi. Font Type – Verdana
when printed or proper color e) Address
formation i. Change case - title Case
i. Size: - ii. Font 12
▪ Width 381 mm (1.5 inches) iii. Font Style – Regular
▪ Height 254 mm (1 inches) iv. Spacing 60 from revision recode
4. Manual Address Page v. Font Type – Verdana
a) Margin vi. Alignment - horizontal center
iii. Left – 2.5 f) Logo on manual address page: -
iv. Right - 1.25 i. Location – bottom right
v. Top – 1.0 ii. Color – black for hard copy or
vi. Bottom -1.25 when printed or proper color
b) Division/Department Title formation
vii. Change case - title Case iii. Size – 1 ½ inches x 1”
viii. Font 12 5. Manual Control Page
ix. Font Style – Bold a) Margin
x. Spacing 72 from top margin i. Left – 2 .5

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xi. Right - 1.25 iii. Font – 12

xii. Top – 1.0 iv. Spacing from ass. to – 12
xiii. Bottom – 1.5 v. Font Type —Verdana
b) Division/Department vi. Alignment-left margin
xiv. Font 12 vii. Use date as:-DD MMM YYYY
xv. Font Style – Bold Numeric Alfa Numeric
xvi. Spacing 72 from top margin g) Logo on manual control page: -
xvii. Alignment–Horizontal i. Location – bottom right
c) Manual title ii. Color – black for hard copy or
xviii. Change case- title Case when printed or proper color
xix. Font 12 formation
xx. Font Style – Bold iii. Size – 1 ½ inches x 1”
xxi. Spacing 72 from div./dep. title 6. Forms (Tables)
xxii. Font Type Verdana No. Tables’ no. of column
xxiii. Alignment Horizontal center 1. Table of content 3
d) Manual Control No 2. Table of content general 3
i. Chang case- Title case 3. List of effective pages 5
ii. Font style –Regular 4. Records of Revision pages 6
iii. Font – 12 5. Revision Transmittal sheet 6
iv. Spacing 168 from Manual title 6. Distribution list 3
v. Alignment- left margin 7. Amendment proposal form 1
vi. Font Type —Verdana
e) Assigned to Title of the table
i. Chang case – Sentence Case • Change case – Sentence case
ii. Font Style – Regular • Font style -- Bold
iii. Font Style – Regular • Font size -----12
iv. Font – 12 • Font type ------ Verdana
v. Spacing from manual control- 12 • Alignment -----Center
vi. Alignment-left margin
vii. Font Type —Verdana Portrayal of each column
f) Date: • Font type ---- Verdana
i. Change case -title case • Font size ----- 12
ii. Font Style – Regular • Font style ---- Regular

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ii. Font size – 10

• The numbering system indicates that
iii. Font Style – Regular
1. The 1st number indicate
designated table iv. Revision no, numeric starting
2. The 2nd number
with “0”.
indicates the
sequence of column from left to v. Font Type —Verdana
right in a specific table
vi. Alignment – top right
Table margin
• Left ----- 1.25 e) Effective date at header
• Right ---- 1.25
i. Change case -Title case
• Top ------ 1.00
• Bottom – 1.25 ii. Font size - 10
7. Manual Body Page
iii. Font Style – Regular
a) Logo at header: -
iv. Font Type —Verdana
i. Location – Top – left
v. Alignment – top right below
ii. Color – black
revision no.
iii. Size – Width - 381 mm
vi. Use date as: -
(1 ½ inches) Height - 254
vii.DD MMM YYYY
mm (1 inch)
Numeric Alfa Numeric
b) Manual title at header
8. Body Page Title
i. Change case – Upper case
a) Change case – Upper Case
ii. Font size – 16
b) To be underlined excluding
iii. Font Style – Bold
title item no
iv. Font Type – Verdana
c) Font size 10
v. Alignment – center
d) Font Style – Bold
c) Chapter title at header
e) Font Type —Verdana
i.Change case – Upper case
f) Alignment – Left margin
ii. Font size – 12
9. Body Page Sub Title
iii. Font Style – Bold
a) Change case – Upper case
iv. Font Type – Verdana
b) To be underlined excluding sub
v. Alignment- center below
title item no
manual title
c) Font size 10
d) Revision No at header
d) Font Style – Bold
i. Change case -Title case

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e) Font Type —Verdana V. For chapter 1, 0 & above start

f) Alignment – Left margin with No (1, 2).
10. Body Page Sentences vi. Font type – Verdana
a) Change Case- Sentence case vii. Alignment – bottom right.
b) Font size - 10 12. Page Imprint – Front & Back
c) Font Style – Regular
d) Line spacing 1.5 13. Appendix
e) Paragraph spacing 10 a) Form
f) Left Margin 1.25 b) Annex
g) Right Margin 1.25 c) Site plan
h) Top margin - 1.0 d) A/C specification.
i) bottom Margin 1.5 Customized layout specification is
j) Font Type —Verdana required by each division.
k) Naming of “Ethiopian Airlines” Keys
Refer as “Ethiopian” in title case 1. Font Style
11. Manual Body Page at Footer ▪ Regular - (e.g. Appendix)
a) Chapter N at footer
o
▪ Italic - (e.g. Appendix)
i. Change case -Title case ▪ Bold - (e.g. Appendix)
ii. Font size – 11 ▪ Bold Italic - (e.g. Appendix)
iii. Font Style – Regular 2. Change Case
iv. Chapter No numeric starting ▪ Upper - (e.g. APPENDIX)
with Zero ▪ Lower Case - (e.g. Appendix)
v. Font Type —Verdana ▪ Title Case - (e.g. Appendix One)
vi. Alignment – bottom left ▪ Sentence Case –(e.g. Revision
b) Page No at footer no at header)
i. Change case -Title case ▪ Toggle Case - (e.g. REVISION
ii. Font size - 10 NUMBER)
iii. Font Style – Regular 3. Font Size
iv. For chapter 0.0 start with roman ▪ 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, ……… 72
number. 4. Font Type

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▪ Verdana, Time New Roman,

Arial, Modern No. 20, Bookman
Old Style, Book Antiqua, wide
Latin
5. Line Spacing
▪ Single, 1.5, Double, At least,
Exactly, Multiple
6. Paragraph Spacing
▪ 6pt, 12pt, 18pt, 30, 36, 42, 48,
54, 60, 66, 72, 78, 84, 90, 96,
102, 108, 114, 120, 126, 132,
138, 144, 150, 156, 162, 168…
1584pt
7. Alignment
▪ Justify
▪ Center
▪ Right
▪ Left

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7.6 Manual Hierarchy

All divisional Manuals with regards to SMS and QMS should be derived customized
from the Group QMSM and Group SMSM manual.
7.7 Manual Standard Forms & Usage

For any forms to be referred or used please refer QMS manual Appendix I.

7.8 Retention of Records

Ethiopian Group shall have the below listed document retention period

7.8.1 List of documents to be retained for a year

7.8.1.1 Weekly progress report
7.8.1.2 Monthly activity report
7.8.1.3 Operation budget comparison (OBC)
7.8.2 List of documents to be retained for 5 years
7.8.2.1 Annual Audit Plan;
7.8.2.2 QMS inspections and Audit reports;
7.8.2.3 Quarterly QMS and SMS Reports
7.8.2.4 Corrective action reports;
7.8.2.5 Follow-ups and closure reports;
7.8.2.6 Management Evaluation reports
7.8.2.7 ET-CAA inspection reports
7.8.2.8 Periodic operational QAs meeting data
7.8.2.9 Annual Budget
7.8.2.10 SMS operational records
7.8.3 List of documents to be retained 10 years
7.8.3.1 Investigation Reports
7.8.4 List of documents to be retained indefinitely
7.8.4.1 Achieving Competitive Excellence
7.8.4.2 QMS Manual Amendment control
7.8.4.3 Q-Pulse data
7.8.4.4 SAFA data
7.8.4.5 IOSA Audit Report
7.9 Disposal of Records
7.9.1 Disposal of records on GQMS documents shall be made per the follow steps: -
7.9.1.1 Records are identified per their retention period.
7.9.1.2 Records are shredded
7.9.1.3 Dispose with environmentally friendly methods.
7.9.2 Electronic data shall be handled as follows: -
7.9.2.1 Quality Management Manual is uploaded on portal for operational and
company staff use
7.9.2.2 Summary of non-conformities annexes are uploaded on portal.

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7.10 Process Map for Manual Standardization

PROCESS MAP FOR MANUAL STANDARDIZATION

GQMS,SMS,ERPandand

REQUEST FOR ASSIGNMENT OF

Compliance
Dir./ GQMS,SMS,ERP

IMPLEMENTATION
Compliance

INITIATE STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBERS AGREEMENT ON FOLLOW UP UNTIL

YES
MANUAL BY MANUAL OWNERS ACTION PLAN APPROVAL AND
REVISION DISTRIBUTION

NO
OWNERSDir./
MANUALOWNERS
VPs/MDs

ASSIGN STEERING
VPs/MDs

Action plan
COMMITTEE Implementation of Approval &
preparation &
Action Plan Distribution
MEMBERS approval
MANUAL

Submit approved
action plan to
Manuals & Facilitate &
COMMITTEE

GQMS,SMS,ERP
STEERINGCOMMITTEE

LAUNCH A MEETING
DISCUSS ON THE owners Follow up the
identification and Compliance
APPROVED ACTION PLAN implementation
AND REVISION PROCESS
STEERING

***

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