Berliner Boersenzeitung - Ethiopian Airlines completes first 737 MAX flight since 2019 crash

EUR -
AED 4.325935
AFN 82.357243
ALL 97.98399
AMD 453.431688
ANG 2.107768
AOA 1080.017014
ARS 1450.427229
AUD 1.793247
AWG 2.122935
AZN 1.997299
BAM 1.955505
BBD 2.380911
BDT 144.658206
BGN 1.955923
BHD 0.444046
BIF 3512.826034
BMD 1.177773
BND 1.501455
BOB 8.148772
BRL 6.372108
BSD 1.179207
BTN 100.543853
BWP 15.577587
BYN 3.859119
BYR 23084.342213
BZD 2.368743
CAD 1.59885
CDF 3397.874053
CHF 0.933743
CLF 0.02848
CLP 1092.915346
CNY 8.439208
CNH 8.436662
COP 4704.753831
CRC 595.302733
CUC 1.177773
CUP 31.210973
CVE 110.24839
CZK 24.633081
DJF 209.98569
DKK 7.461195
DOP 70.488483
DZD 152.84189
EGP 58.119191
ERN 17.666588
ETB 162.662004
FJD 2.634912
FKP 0.864607
GBP 0.861717
GEL 3.203778
GGP 0.864607
GHS 12.205161
GIP 0.864607
GMD 84.212651
GNF 10224.416228
GTQ 9.066634
GYD 246.712831
HKD 9.244849
HNL 30.809228
HRK 7.535628
HTG 154.834701
HUF 398.833248
IDR 19066.606673
ILS 3.925039
IMP 0.864607
INR 100.573512
IQD 1544.747601
IRR 49613.669626
ISK 142.404731
JEP 0.864607
JMD 188.390818
JOD 0.835018
JPY 170.019723
KES 152.422098
KGS 102.996405
KHR 4733.226631
KMF 492.308889
KPW 1060.026619
KRW 1603.066682
KWD 0.359492
KYD 0.982739
KZT 612.719887
LAK 25408.848409
LBP 105658.681922
LKR 353.772197
LRD 236.43438
LSL 20.652289
LTL 3.477656
LVL 0.712423
LYD 6.349962
MAD 10.580206
MDL 19.858008
MGA 5179.197737
MKD 61.531403
MMK 2472.387612
MNT 4222.647074
MOP 9.534164
MRU 46.767954
MUR 52.964626
MVR 18.15224
MWK 2044.883246
MXN 21.963963
MYR 4.973723
MZN 75.329989
NAD 20.652026
NGN 1802.757376
NIO 43.393278
NOK 11.849293
NPR 160.867716
NZD 1.940637
OMR 0.452869
PAB 1.179222
PEN 4.199767
PGK 4.868246
PHP 66.498218
PKR 334.637723
PLN 4.242778
PYG 9401.46388
QAR 4.297453
RON 5.058651
RSD 117.184785
RUB 93.342502
RWF 1693.937607
SAR 4.416984
SBD 9.819001
SCR 17.278871
SDG 707.233697
SEK 11.264629
SGD 1.500547
SHP 0.925544
SLE 26.44087
SLL 24697.306053
SOS 673.895613
SRD 43.795447
STD 24377.514118
SVC 10.318314
SYP 15313.139886
SZL 20.661624
THB 38.074443
TJS 11.432432
TMT 4.133982
TND 3.430583
TOP 2.758461
TRY 46.92803
TTD 7.989695
TWD 34.113016
TZS 3120.162088
UAH 49.238073
UGX 4230.362672
USD 1.177773
UYU 47.242883
UZS 14848.76295
VES 128.934888
VND 30837.030102
VUV 140.094991
WST 3.064012
XAF 655.855407
XAG 0.031985
XAU 0.000352
XCD 3.182989
XDR 0.815674
XOF 655.84984
XPF 119.331742
YER 285.197805
ZAR 20.615373
ZMK 10601.361125
ZMW 28.448714
ZWL 379.242284
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Ethiopian Airlines completes first 737 MAX flight since 2019 crash

Ethiopian Airlines completes first 737 MAX flight since 2019 crash

Ethiopian Airlines on Tuesday flew the Boeing 737 MAX for the first time since a crash nearly three years ago killed all 157 people on board and triggered the global grounding of the aircraft.

Text size:

Flight 302 from Addis Ababa to Nairobi plunged six minutes after take-off into a field southeast of the Ethiopian capital in March 2019, five months after a similar crash in Indonesia left 189 people dead.

The twin disasters and subsequent scrutiny of the 737 MAX's faulty flight handling system -- known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) -- amounted to the worst crisis in Boeing's history.

State-owned Ethiopian Airlines, the jewel of the economy of Africa's second most populous country, had long said it would be the last carrier to use the single-aisle jets again.

In a statement to AFP this week, the airline said the decision to resume 737 MAX flights came after "intense recertification" by regulators in the United States, the European Union, China and Ethiopia.

It also provided a list of 35 other carriers that have also begun operating the jet again.

Tuesday's flight was initially set to head to Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, but bad weather forced a route change to a four-hour "scenic flight" in Ethiopian airspace.

The trip involved passing near Mount Zuqualla, an extinct volcano, on the way towards the Bale Mountains before returning to Addis Ababa.

Airline and Boeing representatives on board, along with US ambassador Geeta Pasi, were offered champagne and a three-course meal featuring doro wat, a spicy chicken stew.

White sheet cakes bore the words "ETHIOPIAN B737 MAX RETURN TO SERVICE" in black icing, and women ululated in joy as they were cut just before the plane's descent.

- 'Open wound' -

For some who lost loved ones three years ago, however, the day was less than festive.

The victims of the Flight 302 crash, the worst in Ethiopia's history, hailed from more than 30 countries, with the largest number from neighbouring Kenya.

Virginie Fricaudet, president of an association of French victims' families, said she expected Tuesday's milestone to be painful.

"What I find very difficult for us is that this day of the first flight, there will be a communique about the flight and all of the VIPS who are on board, but for the families who lost loved ones there is just an open wound," Fricaudet said.

She lost her brother in the disaster, which claimed the lives of nine French citizens.

"We are now three years from the crash, the plane has been recertified, the life of the 737 MAX is going well. But the families don't have compensation. Nothing has happened for the families."

Boeing has reached an agreement with the victims' families and accepted responsibility for the tragedy, according to legal documents filed in November in Chicago, where the company is headquartered.

The proposed agreement did not mention specific sums, as jurors will be responsible for assessing amounts.

Darren A. Hulst, vice president of marketing at Boeing who was on Tuesday's flight, told AFP he had no information on compensation.

"I am not involved in that part, so I probably can't comment other than to say our hearts go out to the families and friends of those who lost their lives," he said.

"We've worked tirelessly since then to make sure this aircraft is among the safest aircraft in the world."

- Easing tensions -

Ethiopian Airlines, Africa's leading carrier, had four of the 737 MAX jets in its fleet at the time of the 2019 crash.

Tensions between the airline and Boeing soared in the immediate aftermath, with Ethiopian pushing back on suggestions the tragedy resulted from pilot error.

On Tuesday, representatives from both companies denied there was any lingering bad blood.

Asked about the relationship now, Ethiopia's acting chief commercial officer Esayas Woldemariam Hailu told AFP: "The crash does not define it."

The airline's decision to wait as long as it did before flying the 737 MAX again was "really commendable", said Yeshiwas Fentahun, who was president of Ethiopia's independent pilots' association in 2019 but is no longer with the company.

The loss of the flight crew -- including its youngest captain, Yared Getachew -- was traumatic for all employees, he said.

"There were pilots who were close to the people who lost their lives in the accident, and it's really hard to say if everyone has moved past that experience," he said.

"But I believe it's a reasonable time for most of us to move past that experience."

(F.Schuster--BBZ)