Ethiopian Airlines has reported a revenue of $4.4 billion during the first six months of the 2025/26 fiscal year, exceeding its target by 2%, the airline announced on Tuesday
Tag Archives: Ethiopian Airlines
CDEDI demands forensic audit on Malawi Airlines amid Ethiopian Airlines’ questionable shares
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-The country’s civil rights group Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) is demanding a forensic audit on Malawi Airlines amid questionable 51% shares of Ethiopian Airlines in the flagship.
The grouping therefore wants an Attorney General (AG) Chakaka Thabo Nyirenda to explain to the nation on contractual agreement between Ethiopian Airlines and Malawi Airlines.
Addressing the news conference in the capital Lilongwe on Friday, January 12, 2024, CDEDI Executive Director Sylvester Namiwa observes that his organization’s independent investigations show that Ethiopian Airlines deliberately failed to register the airline code for Malawi, instead opting to use ET as the boarding code for Malawian Airlines.
“The Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI), writes you, Sir, concerning the above-stated subject matter. Building on the remarkable progress recorded thus far in the recovery of public funds that were invested in Salima Sugar Company Limited (SSCL) through the Greenbelt Authority (GBA), which started in earnest through the bold decision to make public the contents of the forensic audit the Malawi Government sanctioned on SSCL, CDEDI intends to draw your kind attention to a public-private partnership agreement that led to the establishment of Malawi Airlines.
“The Government of Malawi has 49 percent stakes in Malawi Airlines, while Ethiopian Airlines has 51 percent shares. This, therefore, as expected, means that its dividends ought to be declared and made public. Failure to declare dividends alone, begs the question as to how Malawians are benefiting from this arrangement,” said Namiwa.
He adds, “Given the above, CDEDI on behalf of Malawian taxpayers and voters, and in line with the Access to Information (ATI) Act, is imploring you, Hon. AG, to help Malawians exercise their right to know by doing the following; Make public how much Ethiopian Airlines brought on the table as their equity contribution. Thus far how much in profits have been declared? Explain with evidence what Malawi has benefited apart from the prestige of having a purported own airline when in reality it is not”.
Namiwa observes, “CDEDI’s independent investigations show that Ethiopian Airlines deliberately failed to register the airline code for Malawi, instead opting to use ET as the boarding code for Malawian Airlines. This systematic ‘anomaly’ allows Ethiopian Airlines to receive all air ticket money realised from travel agents across the globe who sales tickets on behalf of Malawian Airlines. Consequently, Malawi Airlines does not have any idea of the amount realized every month.
“Further, it should also be noted that once that money is obtained by Ethiopian Airlines, it is subject to a 10% collection fee. Something that would not be the case if Malawi Airlines had its own boarding Code, say MWW. All the money would come through to the Malawi Airlines account”.
Namiwa explains, “Another interesting aspect of the contract is that all aircraft belong to Ethiopian Airlines and operate as Malawi Airlines on lease. The lease fees are determined by ET itself. Thus, ET deployed an engineering team into Malawi that services the aircraft at very exorbitant monthly fees paid to ET.
“Ethiopian Airlines also receives management fees for operating the airline. The rate was determined by Ethiopian Airlines itself at the start of the Company in 2014 and this rate keeps changing every year. The Management fee, just like the Engineering fees paid in US dollars is no small money”.
He explains further, “In short, if there is a termination of the contract, Malawi will be left without any aircraft. The money realised over the period would have allowed Malawi Airlines to acquire more than two of its aircraft.
“However, Ethiopian Airlines would not in any way wilfully do this as it will cut significantly the colossal money it realizes through Aircraft Leasing. If the above findings are anything to go by, then Hon. AG you will agree with us that just like SSCL, there is an urgent need for a forensic audit of Malawi Airlines. We are looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Ethiopian Airlines expand services to Malawi now airports are open
Thursday, 23 September 2020 MaraviPost: Ethiopian Airlines, one of Africa’s leading airlines and a popular choice for visitors to Malawi, are now expanding their services since the reopening of Malawi’s airports during the coronavirus pandemic.
We announced last week that Ethiopian Airlines were offering one flight a week to Lilongwe, but can now confirm that this to be extended to a twice weekly service.
To keep up with demand and allow visitors to return to Malawi, in addition to their Saturday service, Ethiopian will now operate a Tuesday departure out of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
With an ever increasing network of destinations around the world being served by Ethiopian Airlines from their Addis hub, these flights make Malawi globally accessible once again.
For visitors from the UK, passengers can fly overnight from London Heathrow on a Monday or Friday and then depart the following morning (Tuesday/Saturday) from Addis Ababa for their onward journey to Malawi. For travellers from the north of the UK, departures from Manchester are also available on Sundays & Thursdays. After an overnight flight to Ethiopia, there is a 24 hour stop-over in Addis in order to catch the current Tuesday/Saturday connections to Lilongwe. During the break in your flights, Ethiopian include a hotel, meals and visa for the stop-over, which means you can explore the cultural capital of Ethiopia before moving onto Malawi.
The gradual expansion of flights from Ethiopian Airlines in a safe and secure way during the coronavirus pandemic offers light at the end of the tunnel for tourists keen to visit Malawi, and also for the tourism providers in Malawi and all who rely on them for their livelihood.
Source Malawitourism.com
UK joins wave of countries grounding the Boeing 737 max
By Daisyderater Chaputula
LONDON-(MaraviPost)-The UK’s Civil Aviation (CAA) has banned the Boeing 737 max from operating in or over UK airspace as a precautionary measure.
This comes after an Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed on Sunday, killing 157 people on board which was the second accident involving yhe 737 max 8 model in less than five months.
According to BBC, countries including China, France and Germany have also grounded the jets, however US officials say the aircraft are still safe to fly.
In a move that was welcomed by British pilots, the CAA said the directive would remain in place until further notice.
In statement, it said it took the decision because it did not currently have sufficient information from the flight data recorder about the fatal crush.
Following the last October’s Lion Air crash in Indonesia, investigators said the pilots had appeared to struggle with an automated system design to keep the plane from stalling a new feature of the jet which is not yet clear if it is the same problem that caused the crash.
The Boeing 737 max fleet of aircraft include the the group of max 7, 8, 9 and 10 models and by the end of January, Boeing had delivered 350 of max of 8 models out of 5, 011 orders and a small number of max 9s are are also operating.
Ethiopian Airlines’ black box recovered from crash site
The BBC’s Emmanuel Igunza, at the scene, said there was a huge crater at the site of the crashADDIS ABABA-(MaraviPost)-Investigators have found the flight data recorders from an Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed on Sunday.
The devices recovered at the crash site were the Boeing 737 Max 8’s cockpit voice recorder and digital flight data recorder.
The plane was en route from Addis Ababa to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, when it crashed six minutes after take-off, killing all 157 people on board.
According to BBC, several airlines have grounded the Boeing model following the disaster.
The months-old aircraft came down near the town of Bishoftu, 60km (37 miles) south-east of the capital at 08:44 local time (05:44 GMT).
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There were people of more than 30 nationalities on the flight, including Kenyans, Ethiopians, Canadians, and Britons.
Do we know how it happened?
The cause of the disaster is not yet clear. But the pilot had reported difficulties and asked to return to Addis Ababa, Ethiopian Airlines said.
“At this stage, we can’t rule out anything,” CEO Tewolde Gebremariam said. “We can’t also attribute the cause to anything because we’ll have to comply with the international regulation to wait for the investigation.”
Visibility was said to be good but air traffic monitor Flightradar24 reported that the plane’s “vertical speed was unstable after take-off”.
The pilot was named as Senior Capt Yared Getachew who Ethiopian Airlines said had a “commendable performance” with more than 8,000 hours in the air.
Several witnesses who worked in the farmland below the plane’s flight path told the Reuters news agency they heard loud rattling noises coming from the aircraft and saw billows of smoke and debris in its wake as it made a low turn over the fields.
“When it was hovering, fire was following its tail, then it tried to lift its nose,” said one witness, Gadisa Benti. “When it passed over our house, the nose pointed down and the tail raised up. It went straight to the ground with its nose, it then exploded.”
What do we know about the plane?
The 737 Max 8 aircraft has only been in commercial use since 2017.
The plane that crashed was among six of 30 that Ethiopian Airlines had ordered as part of its expansion. It underwent a “rigorous first check maintenance” on 4 February, the airline said.
Boeing said it was “deeply saddened” by the crash and was sending a team to provide technical assistance.
It was the second crash in five months involving a 737 Max 8, and comparisons are being drawn with a Lion Air accident in Indonesia last October that killed 189 people.
Following the Lion Air crash, investigators said the pilots had appeared to struggle with an automated system designed to keep the plane from stalling, a new feature of the jet.
The anti-stall system repeatedly forced the plane’s nose down, despite efforts by pilots to correct this, preliminary findings suggested. The Lion Air plane was also new and the accident happened soon after take-off.
“It’s highly suspicious,” Mary Schiavo, former Inspector General of the US Transportation Department, told CNN. “Here we have a brand-new aircraft that’s gone down twice in a year. That rings alarm bells in the aviation industry, because that just doesn’t happen.”
After last October’s crash, Boeing sent an emergency notice to airlines warning them of a problem with the anti-stall system.
Image copyrightETHIOPIAN AIRLINESBoeing is expected to release a software patch to the system to deal with the issue, Reuters reports.
It is not yet clear whether the anti-stall system was the cause of Sunday’s crash. Aviation experts say other technical issues or human error cannot be discounted.
Who were the victims?
There were 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, nine Ethiopians and seven Britons on the flight, according to a passenger list published by Ethiopian officials.
There were also eight Italians, eight Chinese, eight Americans, seven French citizens, six Egyptians, five Germans, four Indians and four people from Slovakia.
Son of Ethiopian Airlines passenger: “I’m still in shock”A number of passengers are also believed to have been affiliated with the UN and were travelling to a session of its Environment Assembly in Nairobi.
“It is one of the biggest catastrophes we have had in years,” Michael Moller, director-general of the UN Office in Geneva, told the session on Monday.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his condolences for the dead. “Our colleagues were women and men, junior professionals and seasoned officials, hailing from all corners of the globe and with a wide array of expertise,” he said.
“They all had one thing in common: a spirit to serve the people of the world and to make it a better place for us all.”
David Beasley, the executive director of the World Food Programme, said seven members of the agency’s staff had died in the crash, including Irish and Italian nationals.
What happens next?
The investigation will be led by Ethiopian authorities in co-ordination with teams of experts from Boeing and the US National Transportation Safety Board.
Ethiopian Airlines said it had grounded all of its 737 Max 8s “until further notice” as “an extra safety precaution”. The airline’s first flight to Kenya since the crash touched down at 10:25 local time on Monday, and a different model of plane was used.
]The Boeing 737 Max-8 aircraft that crashed on SundayMeanwhile:
- China’s aviation regulator has also ordered local airlines to halt the flights of 737 Max 8s. More than 90 are in use by Chinese carriers including Air China, China Eastern Airlines, and China Southern Airlines
- Indonesia grounded all 737 Max 8s, and Cayman Airways also grounded its two Boeings of the same type
- A spokeswoman for FlyDubai, which operates a number of 737 Max 8s, told Reuters that the company continued to have confidence in the aircraft
- Several North American airlines have said they are monitoring the investigation. Southwest Airlines flies 31 737 Max 8s, while American Airlines and Air Canada each have 24 in their fleet
Shares in Boeing fell by 12.9% in the wake of the crash.
Ethiopian Airlines Fallen flight 737 black box found at crash site
(MaraviPost) Two flight data recorders from Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302 have been found, as airlines around the world ground Boeing 737 MAX 8s like the one which crashed Sunday, killing all 157 people on board.
The plane’s Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) were recovered from the wreckage Monday, Ethiopian Airlines said in a statement. They will enable investigators and experts piece together the last moments of the flight, and should help explain why the new plane crashed.
Flight ET302 to Nairobi had just taken off from the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa Sunday when it reported technical problems and asked for permission to turn back. It crashed shortly after.
With investigations underway, multiple countries have suspended use of Boeing’s new 737 MAX 8 aircraft amid concerns about its safety.
On Monday, The Civil Aviation Administration of China ordered that all domestic Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets be out of the air by 6 p.m. local time, due to its principle of “zero tolerance for safety hazards.”
China has one of the world’s largest fleets of Boeing 737 MAX 8, operating 97 of the planes, according to China’s state-run media.
The move was followed by an announcement from Ethiopian Airlines that the carrier had grounded its fleet of Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets as an “extra safety precaution.” Cayman Airways also said on Monday it was grounding both of its “new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft … until more information is received.”
Sunday marked the second time in less than six months that a new Boeing aircraft had crashed just minutes into a flight. A Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight went down over the Java Sea in last October, killing all 189 people on board.
Both crashes are under investigation. There is no evidence of a link between the two, but similarities in the incidents have prompted caution among some airlines.
“Given in both air crashes, the aircrafts were newly delivered Boeing 737 MAX 8, and both accidents occurred during the take-off, they share certain similarities,” the Chinese administration said in a statement. It added that it would contact Boeing and the US Federal Aviation Administration to confirm “flight safety” issues before allowing the planes to fly again.
State-owned Ethiopian Airlines is one of Africa’s leading aviation groups, and the continent’s largest carrier by number of passengers.
The Kenyan and Ethiopian governments announced a joint disaster response team on Monday to investigate the crash. Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary of Transport James Macharia described it as a “very complex investigation.”
In a statement Sunday, Boeing said it was “deeply saddened” to hear about the loss of life in the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash.
“A Boeing technical team will be traveling to the crash site to provide technical assistance under the direction of the Ethiopia Accident Investigation Bureau and US National Transportation Safety Board,” the statement said.
Air transport, Africa’s most viable means of transport
Africa accounts for only 3 percent of the world’s air traffic. ‘IATA’ predicts a stronger growth of 4.8% in passenger numbers in the next 5 years starting 2017, thanks to the increase of international flights into the continent. This is according to a recently published Hospitality Report for Africa by Jumia Travel, which talked with Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam, who gave insights into the African aviation industry, its key advancements and challenges. Continue reading Air transport, Africa’s most viable means of transport
Michael Usi says Malawi economy is still colonized, ‘ Mutharika should fire crooked Cabinet’
KARONGA(MaraviPost): The renowned Malawi actor Michael (aka Dr Manganya) Usi has on Friday said the country economy is still colonized despite celebrating its 52 years of independent.
According to Usi, this is because of the failed leadership of the country. Continue reading Michael Usi says Malawi economy is still colonized, ‘ Mutharika should fire crooked Cabinet’