For the first time since a crash nearly three years ago, Ethiopian Airlines is set Tuesday to operate the Boeing 737 MAX.
The crash in March 2019 killed all 157 people on board and triggered the global grounding of the aircraft.
Flight 302 from Addis Ababa to Nairobi plunged six minutes after takeoff into a field southeast of the Ethiopian capital, five months after a similar crash in Indonesia killed189 people.
Both accidents and subsequent investigation of the 737 MAX’s faulty flight handling system, known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) amounted to the worst crisis in Boeing’s history.
State-owned Ethiopian Airlines, the jewel of the economy of Africa’s second most populous country, had long said it would be the last carrier to use the single-aisle jets again.
The airline, which had four of the jets in its fleet at the time of the crash, provided a list of 35 other carriers that are also now flying them.
“Our pilots, engineers, aircraft technicians, and cabin crew are fully prepared to take the B737 MAX back to the skies and we look forward to welcoming you on board,” its statement said.
Former president of Ethiopia’s independent pilots’ association Yeshiwas Fentahun said the decision to wait this long before flying the 737 MAX again was “really commendable”
The victims of the Flight 302 crash, the worst in Ethiopia’s history, hailed from more than 30 countries.
Boeing has reached an agreement with the victims’ families and accepted responsibility for the crash, according to legal documents filed in November, 2021.