Ethiopian Airlines has identified as a newly-delivered Boeing 737 Max 8 the aircraft involved in an accident while en route to Nairobi.
The aircraft (ET-AVJ) had been operating the ET302 service to the Kenyan capital when it lost contact at 08:44, having departed just six minutes earlier at 08:38, states the airline.
Ethiopian states that the accident site is in Bishoftu, which lies to the south-east of Addis Ababa.
The airline took delivery of the CFM International Leap-1B-powered twinjet on 15 November last year, according to Cirium’s Fleets Analyzer.
“At this time search and rescue operations are in progress and we have no confirmed information about survivors or any possible causalities,” says the carrier.
“Ethiopian Airlines staff will be sent to the accident scene and will do everything possible to assist the emergency services.”
Ethiopian has yet to confirm the number of occupants but says it believes there were 149 passengers and eight crew members on the flight.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
