Ethiopians suspend operations in Eritrea after Asmara freezes its account

Ethiopian Airlines (ET, Addis Ababa International) has suspended its flights to the Eritrean capital Asmara after authorities there froze the airline’s accounts and prevented it from transferring funds to Ethiopia.

While the airline initially blamed unspecified “very difficult operating conditions in Eritrea,” CEO Mesfin Tasew gave further details during a press conference. He claimed that Eritrean authorities had become increasingly hostile towards the airline in recent months and had accused it of numerous violations of passengers' rights without being able to provide any evidence. The freezing of funds at the airline's Asmara branch was the last straw.

The Eritrean Civil Aviation Authority had previously announced that it would ban Ethiopian Airlines from flying effective September 30, 2024, due to “general, systematic and organized theft, looting, damage, long delays and loss of passengers' baggage without compensation,” coupled with fare increases and “other irregularities.”

Ethiopian Airlines served Asmara daily from Addis Ababa International, mainly with B737-8s. Some flights were operated with wide-body B787-8s and B787-9s. The last flight on September 2 was operated with a B787-8 ET-AOO (MSN 34743), according to Flightradar24's ADS-B data.

Data from the OAG Traffic Analyser shows that around a third of all Ethiopian Airlines passengers departing from Asmara transfer to other flights in Addis Ababa. The main destinations are Stockholm Arlanda and Entebbe.

Ethiopia and Eritrea resumed direct flights in 2018, 20 years after a border war between the two countries. Relations between Addis Ababa and Asmara have again deteriorated significantly in recent years.

Since there are no active airlines in Eritrea, one of the most self-sufficient countries in the world, Asmara relies on foreign airlines to provide limited scheduled capacity. The ch-aviation timetable module shows that the city is served by flydubai, Turkish Airlines, flynas, EgyptAir and Tarco Aviation, but Ethiopian Airlines was the main carrier with almost a third of the total weekly scheduled capacity.