- Teen Konstas to open for Australia in Boxing Day India Test
- Asian stocks mostly up after US tech rally
- US panel could not reach consensus on US-Japan steel deal: Nippon
- The real-life violence that inspired South Korea's 'Squid Game'
- Blogs to Bluesky: social media shifts responses after 2004 tsunami
- Tennis power couple de Minaur and Boulter get engaged
- Supermaxi yachts eye record in gruelling Sydney-Hobart race
- Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts, spewing columns of lava
- El Salvador Congress votes to end ban on metal mining
- Five things to know about Panama Canal, in Trump's sights
- NBA fines Minnesota guard Edwards $75,000 for outburst
- Haitians massacred for practicing voodoo were abducted, hacked to death: UN
- Inter beat Como to keep in touch with leaders Atalanta
- Mixed day for global stocks as market hopes for 'Santa Claus rally'
- Man Utd boss Amorim questions 'choices' of Rashford's entourage
- Trump's TikTok love raises stakes in battle over app's fate
- Is he serious? Trump stirs unease with Panama, Greenland ploys
- England captain Stokes to miss three months with torn hamstring
- Support grows for Blake Lively over smear campaign claim
- Canada records 50,000 opioid overdose deaths since 2016
- Jordanian, Qatari envoys hold talks with Syria's new leader
- France's second woman premier makes surprise frontline return
- France's Macron announces fourth government of the year
- Netanyahu tells Israel parliament 'some progress' on Gaza hostage deal
- Guatemalan authorities recover minors taken by sect members
- Germany's far-right AfD holds march after Christmas market attack
- European, US markets wobble awaiting Santa rally
- Serie A basement club Monza fire coach Nesta
- Mozambique top court confirms ruling party disputed win
- Biden commutes almost all federal death sentences
- Syrian medics say were coerced into false chemical attack testimony
- NASA solar probe to make its closest ever pass of Sun
- France's new government to be announced Monday evening: Elysee
- London toy 'shop' window where nothing is for sale
- Volkswagen boss hails cost-cutting deal but shares fall
- Accused killer of US insurance CEO pleads not guilty to 'terrorist' murder
- Global stock markets mostly higher
- Not for sale. Greenland shrugs off Trump's new push
- Sweden says China blocked prosecutors' probe of ship linked to cut cables
- Acid complicates search after deadly Brazil bridge collapse
- Norwegian Haugan dazzles in men's World Cup slalom win
- Arsenal's Saka out for 'many weeks' with hamstring injury
- Mali singer Traore child custody case postponed
- France mourns Mayotte victims amid uncertainy over government
- UK economy stagnant in third quarter in fresh setback
- Sweden says China denied request for prosecutors to probe ship linked to cut undersea cables
- African players in Europe: Salah leads Golden Boot race after brace
- Global stock markets edge higher as US inflation eases rate fears
- German far-right AfD to march in city hit by Christmas market attack
- Ireland centre Henshaw signs IRFU contract extension
Boeing strike will hurt Ethiopian Airlines growth: CEO
Africa's biggest carrier, Ethiopian Airlines, is feeling the effects of a bitter seven-week strike at plane maker Boeing, its chief executive told AFP on Friday, warning that consequences could stretch into the longterm.
Production of the American company's best-selling 737 MAX, as well as the 777 jet, were halted by the strike that ended early this month and driven by worker exasperation after more than a decade of near stagnant pay.
The strike exacerbated the company's already-precarious outlook after a January incident in which a fuselage panel blew out mid-flight on a 737 MAX operated by Alaska Airlines.
"Delivery dates of the air planes that we have ordered from Boeing are still sleeping," Ethiopian Airlines CEO Mesfin Tasew told AFP in Addis Ababa.
The delivery schedule fell behind about a year ago and the strike had "worsened" the situation, he said.
European aviation giant Airbus was meanwhile on time. "The major issue is with Boeing," Mesfin conceded.
Boeing said Tuesday that it would be several weeks before it fully restarts airplane production, given that restarting a manufacturing line is a multi-stage process.
The delay, according to Mesfin, was due to affect the state-owned airline's longterm growth.
The airline -- the only profitable carrier in Africa -- said in July it had posted a 14 percent jump in revenue for the 2023/24 financial year, carrying 17.1 million passengers.
In March 2019, an Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX from Addis Ababa to Nairobi plunged six minutes after take-off, killing all 157 on board, and triggered the global grounding of the aircraft.
Tensions between the airline and Boeing soared in the immediate aftermath, with Ethiopian pushing back on suggestions the tragedy resulted from pilot error.
Boeing later admitted that its faulty flight handling system -- known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) -- was partly to blame.
Mesfin said the airline "suffered a lot" due to the crash, calling it a "serious scar".
"However, we still have confidence in Boeing that it is a great aerospace company," he said.
Ethiopian Airlines began flying the 737 MAX again in February 2022.
Conflicts in Sudan and the Middle East were also impacting the airline's results, Mesfin said, adding that they had stopped flying to Lebanese capital Beirut and Sudan's Khartoum. Flights to Tel Aviv in Israel had also been cut.
Despite the setbacks, the airline remained optimistic of being close to its targets by the end of the year, the CEO said, thanks in part to a recent delivery of Airbus A350-900s.
M.Odermatt--BTB