Safe Ethiopian Airlines Operation on the Edge?

Ethiopian leads Africa in passenger and freight traffic during COVID-19 crisis
Tewolde Gebremariam, Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines

The civil war situation in Ethiopia is getting more tense by the day. Ethiopian Airlines is a proud symbol for Africans. Threats made against the safety level of ET is alarming for many on the continent and in the world of aviation. It’s also a threat to many African economies.

Africans will never forget the crash of Boeing 737 Max in Ethiopia and how the Western media rushed to blame Ethiopian pilots! Today Boeing is confirmed to be the guilty party, and the tone in the media has changed.

Today the United States is warning pilots about Addis Ababa International Airport to be unsafe because of the TPLF TerroristGroup firepower! No armed group can march into Addis Ababa! There is no armed group able to do so.

This and many other messages are flooding social media channels. The fact remains the United States is warning pilots that planes operating at one of Africa’s busiest airports could be “directly or indirectly exposed to ground weapons fire and/or surface-to-air missiles” as Ethiopia’s war nears the capital, Addis Ababa.

Ethiopians are at the edge due to the United States warnings and America’s warning for Americans to leave the country.

The message is: Don’t use Ethiopian Airlines. Tweets say the aim is for America to cripple the Ethiopian economy. This is undeclared war by the USA!!!

The Federal Aviation Administration advisory issued Wednesday cites the “ongoing clashes” between Ethiopian forces and fighters from the northern Tigray region, which have killed thousands of people in a year of the war. The U.S. this week urged its citizens in Ethiopia to “leave now,” saying there should be no expectation of an Afghanistan-style evacuation.

Diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting have met resistance, but Kenya’s president told visiting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday that Ethiopia’s prime minister in a meeting on Sunday gave the impression he was ready to consider several proposals to ease tensions and reduce violence, a senior State Department official said.

In the meantime tweets from Ethiopia are demanding for the US to stop scaring people, claiming Addis Ababa is safe.

Other tweets are suggesting for the Addis Ababa-based African Union to pack up and move to another African country.

African Tourism Board Chairman Cuthbert Ncube said: “I flew on Ethiopian through Addis Ababa several times in the last few days and met with airline officials.” There is no imminent danger, and Ethiopian Airlines’ leadership should be trusted in their decision to operate the airline safely.”

“I hope a further escalation of the civil conflict can be avoided”

About the author

Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen Thomas Steinmetz has continuously worked in the travel and tourism industry since he was a teenager in Germany (1977).
He founded eTurboNews in 1999 as the first online newsletter for the global travel tourism industry.

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