Etihad Airways & Ethiopian Fined By US DOT

Etihad Airways and Ethiopian Airlines have been fined by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) following the conclusion of an investigation.

The DOT has stated that Ethiopian Airlines has been fined a total of USD 425,000 for operating flights that carried the United Airlines designator code.

Meanwhile, Etihad Airways has been fined USD 400,000 for operating flights that carried the JetBlue designator code.

The uproar from the DOT over this is because these flights were operated with the respective airline designator codes in regions where the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has a flight prohibition for U.S. operators.

As a result, the two respective airlines were ordered to cease and also desist from future violations similar to what they were fined for.

The Ethiopian Airlines Case

The process revealed that Ethiopian Airlines, more specifically, operated several flights carrying the United Airlines code between Ethiopia and Djibouti. However, this was in airspace that the FAA prohibits for U.S. operators, and that’s why concerns arose.

However, while this process is prohibited, much of the uproar to issue a fine doesn’t come because of what happened but more so because of the circumstances in this case.

The investigation revealed that the flights still took place after the OACP issued a letter to Ethiopian Airlines regarding violating the written rule.

Essentially, they continued to operate flights using this method even after receiving a letter questioning its circumstances. Ethiopian Airlines violated the conditions without authority from the DOT.

The investigation into the Ethiopian Airlines case ran from February 2020 through December 2022.

The Etihad Airways Case

Meanwhile, over at Etihad Airways, a separate investigation revealed that between August 2022 and September 2022, there were multiple instances where flights operated that were prohibited.

Worse still, and similar to Ethiopian Airlines, OACP notified Etihad Airways of their conduct, which was not allowed in the period mentioned. However, when it was revealed that between January 2023 and April 2023, several further flights were operated carrying the JetBlue code.

These flights were through prohibited airspace between the United Arab Emirates and the United States. Essentially, by doing this, Etihad Airways also violated the conditions of the authority in place.