Following the 10th March 2019 Flight 302 crash near the town of Bishoftu six minutes after takeoff, killing all 157 people aboard, Ethiopian Airlines is set to resume flights with the B737 MAX Fleet to Service with the First Flight Expected on 01 February 2022.
Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Tewolde GebreMariam said “Safety is our top most priority at Ethiopian Airlines and it guides every decision we make and all actions we take. It is in line with this guiding principle that we are now returning the B737 MAX to service not only after the recertification by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), EASA of Europe, Transport Canada, CAAC, ECAA and other regulatory bodies but also after the return to service by more than 34 airlines around the world. In line with our initially stated commitment to become among the last airlines to return the B737 MAX, we have taken enough time to monitor the design modification work and the more than 20 months of rigorous recertification process and we have ensured that our pilots, engineers, aircraft technicians, cabin crew are confident on the safety of the fleet. The airplane model has accumulated more than 275,000 commercial flights since the resumption of B737 MAX operation a year ago.
Ethiopian Airlines has put in place rigorous and comprehensive processes to ensure that every plane in the sky is safe. In the next one month, we will update the travelling public on further details and progresses.
We always prioritize customers’ safety and I am confident that our customers will enjoy onboard safety and comfort that we have been known for.” The statement read.
The Boeing 737 MAX passenger airliner was grounded worldwide between March 2019 and December 2020 – longer in many jurisdictions – after 346 people died in two crashes, Lion Air Flight 610 on October 29, 2018, and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March 10, 2019.
