Ethiopian Airlines recently announced that it was no longer operating flights to Asmara, Eritrea.
Effective September 3, the airline no longer offers flights to the Eritrean capital due to “very difficult operating conditions it has encountered in Eritrea that are beyond its control”, according to a statement from the airline.
Ethiopian Airlines said it would do everything possible to rebook affected passengers on other airlines at no additional cost or, alternatively, to provide full refunds for tickets booked and paid.
The airline’s CEO, Mesfin Tasew, told a news conference that the Eritrean Civil Aviation Authority had frozen Ethiopian Airlines’ bank account.
The Eritrean government had previously threatened to suspend flights from Ethiopian Airlines by the end of September, according to Reuters.
Flights between the two nations resumed in 2018 after being suspended 20 years before. Ethiopia and Eritrea’s relationship has been lukewarm and increasingly adversarial after a 30-year conflict that ended in the 2018 peace agreement.
