Category / Ethiopia

Sky News Ethiopian Airlines plane crash kills all 157 people on board
by Crimson Tazvinzwa

UK: At least 224 Boeing 737 MAX 8s owned or ordered by Irish firms

An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. Photograph: EPA/STR
An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. Photograph: EPA/STR

The relatively new aircraft type involved in the Ethiopian Airlines crash is popular with Irish lessors –
Peter Hamilton

Ireland’s main aircraft lessors have had at least 224 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft delivered or are on order, figures compiled by The Irish Times show.

The relatively new aircraft type has recorded two fatal crashes since its entry into service, including that of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 and Lion Air flight 610.

Dublin-headquartered SMBC Aviation Capital appears to be the biggest owner of MAX 8s that operates out of the Republic, with five owned, three managed and about 110 committed. The company recently delivered one to Icelandair, and in December signed a deal with US budget carrier Southwest for 12 MAX 8s in a sale and leaseback agreement.

There are 13 Boeing 737 MAX 8s on the Irish aircraft register, the Irish Aviation Authority has said. It will not follow the lead of regulators in China, Ethiopia and Indonesia, all of whom ordered carriers to ground the 737 MAX model in the wake of the latest crash, which displayed similarities to the earlier Lion Air incident.

Norwegian Air has no current plans to withdraw its 737 MAX aircraft, and Ryanair has said it is reserving judgment on similar models it has ordered. The Irish airline is due to take delivery of 200 Boeing 737 MAX-8s out to 2024.

Some of the aircraft grounded by Chinese and Indonesian authorities include aircraft owned by Irish lessors including SMBC and Avolon.

In December, SMBC delivered the first MAX 8 from its order book to Chinese carrier Lucky Air, with three more to be delivered in the first and second quarter of this year.

In the summer of 2017, Avolon delivered two MAX 8 planes to Indonesian low-cost carrier Lion Air having originally delivered the world’s first MAX 8 to Malindo Air in May 2017.

Lion Air flight 610 crashed in October 2018, killing all passengers on board, but that specific plane was not owned by any Irish aircraft lessor.

In total, Avolon has agreed to firm orders for 55 MAX 8 aircraft, with options for an additional 20. Goshawk, meanwhile, owns 24 MAX 8s, while AerCap appears to hold five. However, it’s not clear whether AerCap has more on order. The lessor declined to comment.

Operations

Other entities which have operations in the Republic with MAX 8s include BBAM and GE Capital Aviation Services.

Fly Leasing has two Boeing 737 MAX 8s. The company’s chief executive, Colm Barrington, has been dealing with Ethiopian Airlines for more than 20 years.

“They’re a fantastic airline who I’ve recently used myself. We’ve had nothing but good experiences with them.”

Mr Barrington added that Fly Leasing has no more orders in for MAX 8s.

It is believed that the aircraft that crashed on Sunday was directly owned by the airline rather than leased.

US manufacturer Boeing has faced questions over the safety of the aircraft given the fact that two have been involved in fatal crashes despite its relatively recent introduction into airline fleets.

The company said in a statement that a technical team would be travelling to the crash site to provide assistance to the Ethiopian accident investigation bureau.

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Airplane engine parts are seen at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri
by Crimson Tazvinzwa

U.S. says 737 MAX safe to fly after Ethiopia crash; Boeing shares dip

Ethiopian policemen stand at the crash scene
Ethiopian federal policemen stand at the crash scene

CRIMSON TAZVINZWA, AIWA! NO!|Despite two deadly crashes within a space of five months airlines told it was safe to fly 737 MAX 8 planes on Monday as investigators found two black box recorders that will help piece together the final moments of an Ethiopian Airlines jet before it plunged to the ground on Sunday. 

The US Federal Aviation Administration has told airlines it believes Boeing’s 737 Max 8 model to be airworthy, after two fatal crashes inside six months. An Ethiopian Airlines plane en route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi crashed six minutes after take-off on Sunday, killing all 157 people on board.

China, Ethiopi and Indonesia grounded their fleets of 737 MAX 8 aircraft earlier on Monday, citing safety concerns, contributing to a drop in Boeing Co shares that wiped billions of dollars off the market value of the world’s biggest plane maker.

Late on Monday, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued a “continued airworthiness notification” to assure operators of the plane that it was safe to fly. It said it was collecting data on the crash and keeping in contact with international civil aviation authorities and would take immediate action if it identified any safety issues.

Southwest Airlines Co, which operates the largest fleet of 737 MAX 8s, said it remained confident in the safety of all its Boeing planes even as it received a rush of queries from customers wanting to know if they were booked to fly on a 737 MAX 8.

“Our customer relations team is responding to these customers individually, emphasizing our friendly, no-change fee policy,” the No. 4 U.S. airline said in a statement.

Investigators in Ethiopia found two black box recorders early on Monday that will help piece together the final moments of the plane before it plunged, trailing smoke and debris, and crashed killing 157 people. The disaster came just months after a jet of the same model came down in Indonesia killing 189 people.

The discovery of black box recorders means the cause of the crash may be quickly understood, as long as recordings are not damaged, although it typically takes a year for a full detailed investigation to be completed.

Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg said he was confident in the safety of the 737 MAX in an email to employees which was seen by Reuters.

The planemaker, the airline and its insurers face big claims after the crash, industry sources said. The insured value of the plane itself was likely around $50 million.

On top of that, Boeing may face lawsuits from victims’ families in the United States, where legal compensation payments for people killed in plane crashes could run around $2 million to $3 million per person, depending on the law applied, compared to about $200,000 in Ethiopia, according to Justin Green, a New York-based aviation lawyer who has represented families in cases against Boeing.

Boeing declined to comment on its insurance cover.

The company’s share price briefly had its biggest one-day drop since the attacks of Sep. 11, 2001, falling as much as 13.5 percent early on Monday on fears that two crashes in such a short time could reveal flaws in the new plane.

Some investors saw that dip as an opportunity to buy Boeing shares, which have tripled in value over the past three years, sparking a recovery. The shares closed down 5.3 percent at $400.01. They hit a record high of $446 last week.


Daily Express flights ethiopian airlines 737 max air crash plane safe news latest
by Crimson Tazvinzwa

A Georgetown University law student who reportedly expressed a fear of flying is among the 157 dead in the Ethiopian Airlines crash

Cedric Asiavugwa
Cedric Asiavugwa, a student at Georgetown Law School, is among the 157 who died Sunday in an Ethiopian Airlines crash.
  • Georgetown University law student Cedric Asiavugwa was among the 157 killed when an Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed shortly after takeoff Sunday morning.
  • The 32-year-old was on his way home to Kenya to attend the funeral of his fiancé’s mother.
  • An email sent out to the Georgetown community described Asiavugwa as a “stellar student” and “a dedicated champion for social justice.”

A Georgetown University law student is among the 157 dead after an Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed shortly after takeoff Sunday morning near Addis Ababa.
Cedric Asiavagwa4 202x300
Asiavugwa was on his way home to Kenya to attend the funeral of his fiancé’s mother, the school said.

Cedric Asiavugwa, a third-year student at Georgetown Law, was on his way home to Kenya to attend the funeral of his fiancé’s mother, according to an email from law school Dean William Treanor and Rev. Mark Bosco, Georgetown’s vice president for mission and ministry.

“With his passing, the Georgetown family has lost a stellar student, a great friend to many, and a dedicated champion for social justice across East Africa and the world,” the statement said.

Sarah Decker was one of Asiavugwa’s classmates, and told WJLA he talked about being nervous to fly back to Africa in their last conversation.

Decker said Asiavugwa was supposed to spend spring break visiting friends in Chicago, but had to change his plans at the last minute when his fiancé’s mother died.

She said she told Asiavugwa to relax by thinking about something other than the flight.

“It was almost surreal getting that email because it was what he had feared when he was talking to us about flying. So that was really hard,” Decker told WJLA.

She added: “He was brilliant, really kind, and very humble. He always had something really amazing to say.”

georgetown
A picture of the Georgetown campus in August 2018.

The Georgetown email spelled out Asiavugwa’s many accomplishments, from helping found an organization to help women and children fleeing war-torn Somalia to working at a free school in Kenya for orphans with HIV/AIDS.

Narcity The Plane In The Ethiopian Airlines Crash Is The Same Model Used By Popular Canadian Airlines
by Crimson Tazvinzwa

China and Indonesia halt Boeing 737 MAX 8 after Ethiopia crash

The Straits Times Two short, erratic flights end in tragedy: Could Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air crashes be linked?
The Straits TimesTwo short, erratic flights end in tragedy: Could Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air crashes be linked?

Two short, erratic flights end in tragedy: Could Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air crashes be linked? – AIWA! NO!

ADDIS ABABA/BEIJING (Reuters) – China, Indonesia and Ethiopia grounded their Boeing Co 737 MAX 8 fleets on Monday while investigators found the black box from a crash that killed 157 people in the second disaster involving that airplane model in six months.

The Ethiopian Airlines jet bound for Nairobi came down minutes after take-off from Addis Ababa on Sunday, killing all on board. The victims came from 33 nations and included 22 United Nations’ staff.

RELATED COVERAGE

The discovery of the black box with both the cockpit voice recorder and digital flight data, reported by Ethiopian state TV, should shed light on the cause of the crash.

At the scene, men in Red Cross jackets picked through the dirt, putting items in black paper bags, while investigators hunted for the black box voice recorders.

“Although we don’t yet know the cause of the crash, we had to decide to ground the particular fleet as extra safety precaution,” Ethiopian Airlines said. It has four other 737 MAX 8 jets, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.

The 737 line is the world’s best selling modern passenger aircraft and viewed as one of the industry’s most reliable.Airplane engine parts are seen at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri

CHINA’S ‘ZERO TOLERANCE’

China on Monday also ordered its airlines to suspend operations of their 737 MAX 8 jets by 6 p.m. (1000 GMT) following the second crash of a Boeing 737 MAX jet since one run by Indonesia’s Lion Air went down in October.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said it would notify airlines when they could resume flying the jets, after contacting Boeing and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

“Given that two accidents both involved newly delivered Boeing 737-8 planes and happened during take-off phase, they have some degree of similarity,” the CAAC said, adding the step was in line with its principle of zero tolerance of safety hazards. The 737 MAX 8 is sometimes referred to as the 737-8.

Sky News Ethiopian Airlines plane crash kills all 157 people on board
by Crimson Tazvinzwa

A plane with 157 people on board crashes in Ethiopia, no survivors

Ethiopian plane crash wreckage//Open source
Ethiopian plane crash wreckage//Open source

The airlines officially announced that all passengers and crew members died – AIWA! NO!

An Ethiopian Airlines plane flying from Addis Ababa to Kenya crashed in Ethiopia. This is reported by Reuters.

It is known that on board of the Boeing 737-800 MAX were 149 passengers and 8 crew members. The crash occurred today at 8:44 am local time.

Sky News LIVE: Seven Britons die in Ethiopian Airlines crash as it emerges pilot 'reported difficulties'
Sky NewsLIVE: Seven Britons die in Ethiopian Airlines crash as it emerges pilot ‘reported difficulties’

The airline representatives said that the flight ET 302 crashed near the city of Bischoff, 62 kilometres south-east of Addis Ababa.

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The Ethiopian broadcasting company, citing a source in the airlines, said that no one survived as a result of the plane crash.

Seven Britons die in Ethiopian Airlines crash as it emerges pilot ‘reported difficulties’

“There are no survivors aboard the plane that was carrying passengers from 33 countries,” the message says.

As reported by the BBC, the representative of the airline officially confirmed that no one survived in a plane crash.

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