Ethiopian Airlines is reportedly being forced to cancel flights to neighboring Eritrea, and the logic sure is strange.
Ethiopian Airlines forced to suspend Eritrea flights
Ethiopian Airlines recently announced that it has been told that it needs to suspend flights between Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (ADD), and Asmara, Eritrea (ASM). The airline claims that the reason for the forced suspension is unknown, and that the airline is currently seeking clarification from the Eritrean Civil Aviation Authority.
Ethiopian Airlines operates the short 434-mile flight up to twice daily, using Boeing 737s. The airline has been operating this route since 2018, following a peace deal between the neighbors, which even earned Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed a Nobel Peace Prize in 2019.
Interestingly, just a couple of weeks prior, authorities in Eritrea had reportedly sent a letter to Ethiopian Airlines, requesting that the airline operate more flights to Asmara, so that represents quite a reversal.
Ethiopian Airlines makes up a large percentage of the capacity at Asmara Airport. The airport exclusively has service from foreign airlines, including on EgyptAir from Cairo (CAI), flydubai from Dubai (DXB), Flynas from Jeddah (JED), and Turkish Airlines from Istanbul (IST).
Eritrea’s accusations against Ethiopian Airlines
A picture of a letter is circulating online, which claims to be from the Eritrean Civil Aviation Authority. The letter states the following (what word salad):
Cognizant of the consistent and persistent malicious trading practices pursued by Ethiopian Airlines in general and systematic and organized passengers’ luggage theft, pilferage, damage, prolonged delays and loss with no compensation in particular, coupled with unjustified and unwarranted price hikes and other irregularities witnessed.
Moreover, repeated and relentless calls made on Ethiopian Airlines to rectify the above referenced pitfalls and other irregularities imposed on the travelling public, borne no fruit yet.
Damage to luggage? Prolonged delays? Unwarranted price hikes? Other irregularities? C’mon, this describes the airline industry in a nutshell. 😉
In all honesty, organized luggage theft is a pretty serious accusation, so I’m curious if the airline has any evidence to back that up. Does luggage theft happen? Of course, it happens everywhere in the world, with every airline. But is the government suggesting that there’s some organized conspiracy against luggage on flights to Eritrea?
The irony here is that the government of Eritrea is concerned about price hikes. Anyone want to guess what’s going to happen to fares when roughly one-third of the airport’s capacity is eliminated overnight?
In all honesty, my guess is that this is some sort of an attempted government flex in order to get the airline to do something or another. I can’t imagine the government will actually force Ethiopian Airlines to suspend flights, because that would be a huge disservice to those needing to travel to or from the country.
Bottom line
The government of Eritrea is forcing Ethiopian Airlines to suspend flights to the country as of September 30, 2024. The airline currently operates up to two daily flight in the market, making up a large percentage of the capacity at the airport.
Eritrea is essentially accusing Ethiopian Airlines of being an airline, and of damaging luggage, delaying flights, and hiking prices.
What do you make of Eritrea threatening Ethiopian Airlines?
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