Ethiopian Airlines has begun operating flights with fully vaccinated crew, following in the footsteps of other leading airlines globally. The African airline has said it has imported more than 37,000 COVID vaccine shots for its crew and stakeholders.
Ethiopian now offers fully vaccinated flights
To protect its passengers from COVID risk, Ethiopian Airlines has started flying with fully vaccinated crews. Similar to other carriers, including Emirates and Qatar Airways, Ethiopian Airlines will operate flights with crews that have received two jabs.
The carrier claims it has sourced over 37,000 jabs for its employees and has been “rigorously implementing COVID-19 precautionary measures.” This includes creating its own testing and isolation center at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport and digitizing its efforts against the virus.
Ethiopian Airlines has started operating flights with fully vaccinated crew against COVID-19 to keep travelers safe in light of the pandemic. Read more at https://t.co/d6m3a5kacG pic.twitter.com/KIewkQsnrn
— Ethiopian Airlines (@flyethiopian) June 23, 2021
Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Mr. Tewolde GebreMariam said,
“We are pleased to operate flights with fully vaccinated crew – a significant step in protecting our employees’ and customers’ health safety. We have been squarely focused on working very hard to ensure the safety of our staff and passengers since the pandemic broke out and this is another testament to our continued commitment.”
Encouraging signs for business travel
With global vaccination campaigns bringing encouraging shoots of recovery to the aviation industry, Ethiopian Airlines is seeing more business travelers onboard its flights. Given the many restrictions still in place worldwide, business passengers purchasing premium seats can be a particularly vital source of revenue if load factor is low.
Tewolde GebreMariam said,
“We are encouraged by the increasing number of passengers traveling for business, VFR and tourism supported by the confidence of vaccination across the world.”
Other airlines have shown similar optimism regarding a rebound to the business traveler market. As Qatar Airways CEO, Akbar Al Baker, put it at the Qatar Economic Forum this week,
“People don’t like to just sit in front of a screen and conduct business. Businessmen like to face people, they like to feel people, they like to notice the body language.”
With global restrictions leading to a significant drop in passengers in the past year, Ethiopian Airlines has remained busy conducting medical and humanitarian flights around the globe. This includes transporting vital medical equipment around the world and conducting repatriation flights to help stranded people fly home.
The airline refutes claims of transporting arms
Speculation arose online alleging Ethiopian Airlines’ involvement in the transportation of war materials for the ongoing Tigray conflict. A series of pictures and videos posted online purport to show Ethiopian Airlines transporting armaments and soldiers.
The airline issued a statement denying all allegations, claiming the “baseless and unfounded allegations” were part of a smear campaign.
The airline said in its statement,
“Irresponsible and reckless individuals have used social media to tarnish the high reputation of the airline and defame its brand. They used various photoshopped and unrelated pictures to defame our airline.”
Ethiopian Airlines went on to reiterate it “has not transported any weapons to any parts of Ethiopia and has never been requested to perform such services.”
Do you feel safer flying with a fully vaccinated crew? What other safety measures do you think are important? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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