The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has fined Ethiopian Airlines and Etihad for operating flights in regions where a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) flight prohibition was in effect for US operators.
Ethiopian Airlines was fined $425,000 for operating flights carrying United Airlines’ designator code, while Etihad was hit with a $400,000 fine for operating flights carrying JetBlue’s designator code.
An investigation by the department’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protection (OACP) revealed that between February 2020 and December 2022, Ethiopian Airlines operated a “significant” number of flights carrying United Airlines’ code between Ethiopia and Djibouti in airspace prohibited by the FAA.
A separate OACP investigation also revealed that between August 2022 and September 2022, Etihad operated “numerous flights” carrying JetBlue’s designator code between the United Arab Emirates and the US, again in airspace prohibited by the FAA.
Although the OACP notified Etihad of the violation in September 2022 and November 2022, the OACP discovered that between January 2023 and April 2023, Etihad operated several additional flights carrying JetBlue’s code, within prohibited airspace.