2LT International News

ADIS ABABA, Ethiopia – Ethiopian Airlines has issued a statement following the preliminary report published by investigators on Flight E302 which crashed shortly after take-off on 19 March.

Investigators released their report on Thursday, stressing it was a preliminary report and did not represent its final findings or conclusions as to the cause of the crash which killed 157 passengers and crew.

"The crew performed all the procedures repeatedly provided by the manufacturer but were not able to control the aircraft," Ethiopia's Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges said Thursday, in commenting on the report.

Ethiopian Airlines Aviation Group, which is the largest and the most successful Aviation group in Africa, said in a statement it appreciated the hard work of the investigators.

"The preliminary report clearly showed that the Ethiopian Airlines Pilots who were commanding Flight ET302 have followed Boeing's recommended and FAA's approved emergency procedures to handle the most difficult emergency situation created on the airplane," the statement said.

"Despite their hard work and full compliance with the emergency procedures, it was very unfortunate that they could not recover the airplane from the persistence of nose diving."

The airline said it would continue to cooperate with the investigation team as it continued with more detailed analysis. 

"All of us at Ethiopian Airlines are still going through deep mourning for the loss of our loved ones and we would like to express our deep sympathy and condolences for the families, relatives and friends of the victims. Meanwhile, we are very proud of our pilots’ compliances to follow the emergency procedures and high level of professional performances in such extremely difficult situations. We are also very proud of our Global standard Pilot Training Center and the Ethiopian Aviation Academy which is one of the largest and most modern in the world equipped with state of the art and latest training technologies," the airline's Group CEO Tewolde GebreMariam said Thursday. 

"I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our valued customers, the travelling public, the media and global aviation professionals for the remarkably high level of vote of confidences and strong support that you have been giving us starting from the day of this tragic accident."

"We will double our efforts every single day to win your confidence and earn your business. Your safety will remain our top most priority and we will continue to work together with our partners around the world to make air travel safer and more comfortable," the Ethiopian Airlines chief said.

"My highest appreciation also goes to my 16,000 colleagues at Ethiopian Airlines for their resilience, high standards of professionalism and their continued commitment for operational excellence and their award winning customer services which enabled us to continue our business with out any operational disruption, flight delays nor flight cancellations."