Ethiopian Airlines ponders future of order for 737 Max jets
A decision on additional purchases will follow after Boeing offers a software fix to a system implicated in both crashes and seeing what regulators and other airlines do, CEO says
Addis Ababa — Ethiopian Airlines is reconsidering its order for 25 additional 737 Max jetliners from Boeing, partly because of the “stigma’’ surrounding the aircraft involved in two fatal air disasters in five months — one of them an Ethiopian Airlines flight. Tewolde GebreMariam, the state-owned carrier’s CEO, spoke a day after Ethiopian officials released a preliminary report on the accident that killed 157 people in March shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa and concluded it suffered the same equipment failure as a Lion Air 737 that crashed off Indonesia in October. “We may reach the decision [to cancel the order]. We just had a very tragic accident a few weeks ago, and customers still have the accident in their mind. So it will be a hard sell for us to convince our customers,’’ he said. Ethiopian will not take delivery of its remaining 25 ordered 737 Max aircraft right now, or perhaps at all, Tewolde said. A decision on the 737 Max purchases will come after Boeing offers a s...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.