Eritrean government suspends all Ethiopian Airlines flights to the country alleging “malicious business practices”
borkena
Toronto – Eritrea on Wednesday announced that it has suspended Ethiopian Airlines flights to and from Eritrea starting the end of September.
A two-line letter addressed to Eyob Mulugueta, who is the area manager of Ethiopian Airlines, stated “Please be informed that all Ethiopian Airlines Flights destined to Eritrea shall be suspended with effect from September 20, 2024.”
It is signed by Paulos Kahsay, Director General, the state of Eritrea Ministry of Transport, Communication and Civil Aviation.
What appears to be an explanation for the decision is given in another letter addressed to travelers which is widely circulating on social media.
Based on Eritrea’s government message to passengers, Ethiopian Airlines is suspended on alleged grounds of what it called “malicious” business practices including price hikes and missing luggage.
The Eritrean government also claimed that “repeated and relentless calls” to address the issues have “borne no fruit yet.”
In a statement addressed to travelers to Eritrea, Eritrean government said “…All Ethiopian Airlines travelers destined to the state of Eritrea are hereby advised to adjust their flights and subsequently look for other options as appropriate.”
Ethiopian Airlines was flying ten weekly flights to Asmara. Nathanael Mekonen, a prominent pro-Abiy Ahmed government activist- who is believed to have information access from the government – shared on his social media page that the Eritrean government has been recently asking Ethiopian Airlines to increase the number of weekly flights to Asmara from ten to fifteen.
Ethiopian Airlines has officially confirmed to the public that it has received a notice from the Eritrean government’s civil aviation authority.
In a brief update addressed to passengers, it said “Ethiopian Airlines has received a notice from the Eritrean Civil Aviation Authority through a letter dated 21 July 2024 indicating the suspension of all Ethiopian Airlines flights to Eritrea, effective September 30, 2024. The specific reasons for this suspension have not been disclosed to us.”
It also noted that it is seeking clarification from the Eritrean government while expressing commitment to “resolving any issues amicably and promptly.”
Ethiopian Airlines resumed flights to Eritrea in 2018 after the two countries ended, then, hostile relations. The relation between the two countries has been deteriorating again at least for the past year.
The Eritrean government owns and operates Eritrean Airlines. It used to mostly operate hajj flights every year. In 2018, there was a report that Ethiopian Airlines will buy 20 percent share from Ethiopian Airlines.
In January this year, there were reports that Eritrean Airlines leased B7373-500 from an Egyptian company. There was also news that Eritrea is intending to spend money on the purchase of passenger planes.
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I was to say something about this but I decided not to do so because I was afraid of making Big Brother Isaias angry. But in my and many other rating houses, EAL is the best airline in Africa and one of the top five best airlines in the world. This is all I want to say for now even though I am not in a good mood about it.
Isaias must be looking for free ride. That’s not how business works. Isaias is ever so petulant. Just wait and see him connect with bankrupt and outmoded Aeroflaut or rent parked planes from Egypt and Iran. If only he could get into his dense brain that he is leader of a small and bankrupt sliver of land. And admit that he is the number one cause of it all, sacrificing two generations of Eritreans because of his ego.
Too bad but I am afraid that Abiy”s regime is single-handedly politicized too much the EA business conduct and this all coincided with when he needed most a hard currency to foment more and continue regional and interna conflict. The best EAL could do right now is to up its bruised customers servicrs, which brought early this whole business success and ingenuity in the first place and try to stay clear from diirty politics if it can . I never had problem with it but in my last trip of 2023 with another famous foreign STAR ALLIANCE AIRLINES I lost , or rather delayed my baggage for one day in Bole Airport , but it all ended well and in my satisfaction with no items lost or stolen and with good communication and interaction with the staff and outstanding customer sevices agents. I thank them all. The weirdest thing I observed was one guy who encounteted in the final exit was asked me in amahriic how many jacks I have in my bag, which sermed strange question the least.
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There is a different story I am hearing now as a reason for a ban of flights by EAL to Asmara. The complaints mentioned against the airline are in regards to delayed and at times missing luggage. The reason for such mishaps is not something new. It is alleged(I said alleged) that many of the delayed and missing baggage were suspected to contain items that have a preset limits set by the customs of Ethiopia. Items like raw washed coffee, precious metals like gold, platinum, silver and other commodities like copper and tin. So many bags were found to contain all these items beyond the permitted limits. It reminded what was being done during the years leading to the 1998-2000.
It was discovered that in excess of 16,000 ex fighters used to cross borders in to Tigray and Amhara regions and haul away at least 2 pounds of export ready raw coffee on a daily basis. That was about 32,000 lbs everyday which led the markets in these regions to go dry of a single bean of coffee. Then Eritrea suddenly was lauded to be one of the largest exporters of coffee in the world keeping company countries like Brazil. Now, Ethiopia is said to be fleeced clean of its precious and other commodity metals by thieves from Beijing and certain cartels from Africa. May be someone in Piccolo Roma has decided to join the scavenging. That is what I am hearing and don’t kill the messenger here. This reminds me of similar stories I used to read way back in the 1960’s. It was a story of how certain cartels in Singapore were cleaning markets inside Malaysia and Indonesia of commodities much sought after in the global market. That was wisely and abruptly stopped by the then government of Singapore itself just in time before both Malaysia and Indonesia descended on that tine city state like a wall of bricks.