In mid-June 2019 AllAfrica and regional business outlets reported Ethiopian Airlines managers saying the airline would be the last major operator to return the Boeing 737 Max to service after software and certification fixes, following the March 2019 ET302 crash that killed 157 people and the global grounding of the model.
Hailu Esayas and other Ethiopian executives said the carrier had several Max jets grounded and more on order, and that it would wait until regulators including the U.S. FAA had recertified the aircraft and until airlines in Europe, America, and the Gulf had already resumed Max flights.
Kept as aviation archive, the June 2019 pledge dates Ethiopian Airlines’ public caution on the Max after ET302.
Sources: AllAfrica, The Business Intelligence