Ethiopian Airline opens condolence registers in Nigeria ...as stakeholders seek temporary ban on 737 Max planes

The management of Ethiopian Airlines in Nigeria has opened condolence registers at its offices in Abuja, Lagos, Kano and Enugu for the victims of the ET Flight 302 that crashed on Sunday.

The accident killed all the 157 people onboard including two Nigerians- a Canadian based Professor with Carleton University in Canada, Pius Adesanmi and Ambassador Abiodun Bashua.

The General Manager of Ethiopian Airlines in Nigeria, Firihiewot Mekonnen, yesterday received the first set of visitors at the office in Lagos.

At the Abuja Airport, the Managing Director of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, Engr Saleh Dunomah, was received by the Ethiopian Airlines Sales Manager Abuja, Tilahun Tadesse.

Mrs Mekonnen said: “We thank the Nigerian President and the good people of Nigeria for the condolence message from the Government of Nigeria. We commiserate with Nigeria over the loss to humanity of the two great Nigerians on that flight. We have since reached out to the families involved. Ethiopian Airlines will not abandon its responsibilities to them.”

Meanwhile, following the Ethiopian plane’s crash, the Aviation Roundtable and Safety Initiative yesterday asked the American aircraft manufacturer, Boeing; the US Federal Aviation Administration and the International Civil Aviation Organization to temporarily ban all 737 Max aircraft from commercial operations.

ART President Elder Gbenga Olowo, in a statement, said the series of fatal accidents “call to question the safety in the design of the Max 8 series by the manufacturer and its certification to fly by the US FAA - the safety regulation authority in the country of manufacturing.”