The airline flies to many destinations in Africa, making it a popular carrier in a continent where many airlines fly only from their home country to destinations outside Africa.
It has a good reputation for safety, although in 2010 one of the company’s aeroplanes crashed in the Mediterranean Sea shortly after leaving Beirut. The incident killed 90 people on board. Eyewitnesses say they saw a ball of fire in the sky before Addis Ababa-bound Flight ET409, which had taken off in stormy weather, fell into the sea. Among them was the wife of the French ambassador in Beirut, Marla Pietton.Some of the foreign passengers are reported to be of Lebanese origin. The plane, a Boeing 737-800, was carrying 82 passengers, including small children, and eight crew, Ethiopian Airlines said. This model can seat 189 passengers.Most of those on board were Lebanese or Ethiopian. There were also two Britons.
The airline’s highest fatalities came in a November 1996 crash during a hijacking on a flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi. One of the aeroplane’s engines stopped when the fuel ran out and although pilots attempted an emergency water landing, they hit a coral reef in the Indian Ocean and 123 of the 175 people on board were killed.
