KHARTOUM — Africa’s biggest airline, Ethiopian Airlines, said it suspended two pilots who allegedly fell asleep on a flight from Khartoum to Addis Ababa and missed landing.
The plane flew over the runway at Bole International Airport in the Ethiopian capital on Monday before landing safely, according to flight tracking site FlightAware.
The independent website The Aviation Herald said the pilots fell asleep mid-flight and were only woken by an alarm that went off when autopilot mode was disconnected.
The plane returned to land 25 minutes later, according to flight data.
Ethiopian Airlines said Friday that flight ET343 temporarily lost communication with air traffic control, but landed safely after recovering.
“The crew involved have been removed from operations pending further investigation,” the airline said in a statement, without specifying whether the pilots were sleeping.
“Appropriate corrective action will be taken based on the results of the investigation,” it added.
The flight between the two capitals usually takes less than two hours.
London-based aviation analyst Alex Macheras called the incident “deeply concerning” and blamed widespread fatigue, which poses a major threat to flight safety.
“Pilot fatigue is nothing new and continues to be one of the biggest threats to flight safety – globally,” he tweeted.
In March 2019, a Boeing 737 MAX operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed in a field southeast of Addis Ababa six minutes after takeoff, killing all 157 people on board.
The disaster, five months after a similar crash in Indonesia, caused the plane to be grounded globally for 20 months before returning to service in late 2020.
Ethiopian Airlines, a 100% state-owned company, reported revenue of $3.51 billion for the fiscal year 2020-2021.
- Editor / additional report by AFP
