Ethiopian Airlines, Wednesday said it will be the last airline to operate the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft after the ongoing remodeling, adjustment and re-certification by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), in the US.

Managing Director, Ethiopian International Services, Esayas Hailu, disclosed this while speaking with journalists in Addis Ababa, Ethiopian capital, on Wednesday.

On March 10, an Ethiopian Airlines’ flight ET302 en route Nairobi from Addis Ababa, crashed six minutes after take-off, killing all 157 persons on board.

The victims included two Nigerians – Pius Adesanmi, Canada-based professor of Literary Arts, Carleton university, and Biodun Bashua, a former UN and African Union (AU) deputy joint special representative in Darfur, Sudan.

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The crash was the second involving Boeing 737 MAX 8 within five months  after a Lion Air plane crashed in Indonesia in October 2018.

The March incident led to the grounding of aircraft model by airlines across the world.

Hailu said the airline will only fly the aircraft after it had been certified and flown by American and European airlines, adding that Boeing would have to also train its pilots on the technicalities of the aircraft.

“Ethiopian Airlines has four grounded B737-Max-800 aircraft with an order for 27 more which will be determined after the adjustment by Boeing,” Hailu said.