Ethiopian Airlines Says Boeing 737 MAX Crash Unlikely To Affect Relations With Boeing

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th April, 2019) Ethiopian Airlines' area manager in Russia, Yitbarek Nema, told Sputnik on Friday that he believed the deadly March crash involving a Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft would not affect the airline's relations with the aerospace company, and that Ethiopian Airlines would continue to fly other Boeing models.

Nema said that over 50 percent of the airline's 117 aircraft were made by Boeing.

"We have the most technologically-advanced aircraft, the 787 Dreamliner, both the 800 and the 900 � we have 24 of them. They are efficient, effective, and technologically-advanced. They are reliable, they are safe � so this [737 MAX 8] is a single case. I would doubt if it affects our relationship, which has lasted for decades," Nema said.

When asked about the possibility of the airline launching legal action against Boeing, Nema stressed that this matter fell under the attorney general's jurisdiction.

Two Boeing 737 MAX aircraft have crashed over the past six months � one in Indonesia in October and another in Ethiopia in March. In the wake of the latest crash, aviation authorities and carriers around the world have either grounded all 737 MAX 8 series aircraft or closed their airspace to them.�