The state-owned airline halted services to Mekelle, Axum and Shire on Wednesday, September 23, citing the situation in Tigray.
Reuters reported, citing local sources, that Tigrayan forces had taken Mekelle airport from federal police. The airline did not announce when the three services would resume.
Ethiopian Airlines confirmed the three route suspensions; Reuters’ sources described the takeover of Mekelle airport. The airline did not say that Axum and Shire airports had also been seized.
The air travel concerns now extend beyond the three Tigray destinations. A foreign security source based in Ethiopia told AFP on September 24 that flights had been suspended at Lalibela airport in neighbouring Amhara region.
AFP did not attribute the Lalibela suspension to an Ethiopian Airlines announcement or report that fighters had captured that airport.
Lalibela gives the disruption a consequence beyond regional travel. Its 11 rock-hewn churches are a UNESCO World Heritage site and an important place of worship and pilgrimage.
In July, UNESCO brought diplomats and development partners there as part of efforts to support the site and its surrounding communities. Reduced access could affect visitors and businesses that depend on them, although the scale of any economic loss has not been established.
A fragile peace under pressure
The airport takeover follows a sharp deterioration in relations between the federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF.
The two sides signed a peace agreement in November 2022, but have since accused one another of failing to honour it. In May, the TPLF took control of Tigray’s regional administration from the interim authorities set up under the agreement.
Days before the flights were halted, the TPLF joined six other Ethiopian armed groups in an alliance opposing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government, Reuters reported.
The alliance gives the airport disruption a wider political backdrop. It does not, on the available evidence, establish who ordered the flight suspensions or how long they will last.
