Ethiopian Airlines has pledged to work with Boeing and their colleagues in all the airlines to make air travel even safer.
Ethiopian Airlines in a statement signed by the group chief executive officer, Tewolde GebreMariam said the airline will work with investigators in Ethiopia, in the U.S. and elsewhere to figure out what went wrong with flight 302. GebreMariam stated that the airline has resolved to use the tragedy to make the skies safer for the world.
In his words: “It has been more than two weeks since the tragic crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302. The heartbreak for the families of the passengers and crew who perished will be lasting. This has forever changed their lives, and we at Ethiopian Airlines will feel the pain forever. I pray that we all continue to find strength in the weeks and months ahead. The people of Ethiopia feel this very deeply, too. As an state-owned airline and the flagship carrier for our nation, we carry the torch for the Ethiopian brand around the world. In a nation that sometimes is saddled with negative stereotypes, accidents like this affect our sense of pride.
“Yet this tragedy won’t define us. We pledge to work with Boeing and our colleagues in all the airlines to make air travel even safer. As the largest aviation group on the continent of Africa, we represent The New Spirit of Africa and will continue to move forward. We are rated as a 4-star global airline with a high safety record and member of Star Alliance. That will not change”.
While pledging the full cooperation of the airline, GebreMariam noted that since the investigation of the accident is well underway, the airline will learn the truth.
According to him, “At this time, I do not want to speculate as to the cause. Many questions on the B-737 MAX airplane remain without answers, and I pledge full and transparent cooperation to discover what went wrong.
As it is well known in our global aviation industry, the differences training between the B-737 NG and the B-737 MAX recommended by Boeing and approved by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration called for computer-based training, but we went beyond that.
After the Lion Air accident in October, our pilots who fly the Boeing 737 Max 8 were fully trained on the service bulletin issued by Boeing and the Emergency Airworthiness Directive issued by the USA FAA. Among the seven Full Flight Simulators that we own and operate, two of them are for B-737 NG and the B-737 MAX. We are the only airline in Africa among the very few in the world with the B-737 MAX full flight Simulator. Contrary to some media reports, our pilots who fly the new model were trained on all appropriate simulators.
By Kehinde Ibrahim
Source: nigerianpilot.com
