The Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines, Tewolde GebreMariam, said the company will keep close ties with U.S. plane maker Boeing, despite a tragic crash just over two weeks ago.
Both companies have been partners for a while – In a statement on Monday, Tewolde said both companies have been partners for many years and that Ethiopian Airways believes in the jet maker.
“Let me be clear; Ethiopian Airlines believes in Boeing. They have been a partner of ours for many years. More than two-thirds of our fleet are Boeing. We were the first African airline to fly the 767, 757, 777-200LR, and we were the second nation in the world after Japan to take delivery of the 787 Dreamliner.
“Despite the tragedy, Boeing and Ethiopian Airlines will continue to be linked well into the future.”
Ethiopia Airlines promises to investigate the crash – Tewolde promised to work closely with an investigation team looking into the crash, after reports that the probe was under strain because the Ethiopian authorities were not sharing information with international partners.
“Many questions on the B-737 MAX airplane remain without answers. We will work with investigators in Ethiopia, in the US and elsewhere to figure out what went wrong.”
They are not the only ones that are sticking with Boeing – The Ethiopian Airlines are not the only ones that are sticking with Boeing as Air Peace and Kenya Airways had also earlier declared that they will continue to order planes from Boeing.
Nature of the Boeing crash
The Boeing 737 Max 8 plane crash which happened on the 10th of March, had about 149 passengers and eight crew members.
The plane was flying from the Ethiopian capital city of Addis Ababa, to Nairobi, Kenya. The flight took off at 8:38 a.m local time and lost contact six minutes later.
This is its second crash in five months – This is the second crash in five months involving its new 737 MAX 8 model and Boeing has been under serious investigations since the crash.
