The optical amplification performance of the proposed Zirconia Yttria Aluminum Erbium co-doped fiber (Zr-EDF) was compared for two different pumping schemes; 1480 and 980[Formula: see text]nm. An efficient [Formula: see text]-band amplifier was achieved using 3[Formula: see text]m length of Zr-EDF while 1480[Formula: see text]nm pumping is found to provide higher attainable gain and better noise figure as compared to 980[Formula: see text]nm pumping. At a pumping wavelength of 1480[Formula: see text]nm and an input signal power of [Formula: see text]10[Formula: see text]dBm, the proposed amplifier provides a relatively flat-gain of about 13.3[Formula: see text]and 17.3[Formula: see text]dB with single-pass and double-pass configuration, respectively, where the gain variation was less than 1[Formula: see text]dB within a wavelength region of 1560–1600[Formula: see text]nm. The noise figures of the proposed Zr-EDFA were maintained below 8 and 14.5[Formula: see text]dB for single-pass and double-pass arrangement, respectively, within the flat-gain region. Compared to the conventional amplifier configured with silica based erbium-doped fiber amplifier, the proposed Zr-EDF-based amplifier achieves a higher and flatter gain and lower noise figure at [Formula: see text]-band region even though it uses a shorter length of gain medium.