Ethiopian Airlines posted an impressive passenger and revenue figures during a challenging time for the airlines, which had to grapple with many issues including the Boeing air crash, which set in motion a number of controversies. Till date the controversies have not died down. The crash happened on March 10 of a scheduled flight from Ethiopia to Kenya, claimed 157 lives was the biggest challenge by the airline.
Apart from the focused global attention on the aftermath of the crash, Ethiopia’s own commitment to safety has come under scrutiny. A whistleblower accused the airline of compromising safety in its quest for growth. He submitted his scathing report recently to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (USFDA) and other international air safety agencies.
Ethiopian is Africa’s biggest airline, operating across continents, including Europe and the US. Currently, the airline is facing a shortage of aircrafts that can be attributed to unfortunate event of March. The airline, at the time of the crash, was operating 5 MAX planes with 25 more on its order book. While one was lost in the accident, the other four have since been grounded. The fate of the 25 aircraft in the pipeline is still uncertain since Boeing has to get clearance from USFDA and other regulators about the airworthiness of the ill-fated series of aircraft.
Yet, the airline flew record number of 12.1 million passengers during the year to June, helped the airline offset an increase in fuel costs of about 25 percent.
