Ethiopian Airlines suspends flights to three Tigray cities

Ethiopian Airlines temporarily suspended flights to Mekelle, Axum and Shire on Wednesday as tensions between Ethiopia’s federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) escalated. Local and security sources said Tigrayan forces had taken control of Mekelle airport from federal police. The airline cited the situation in Tigray but did not provide further details about the cancellations. Flight-tracking data showed that a Wednesday morning flight between Mekelle and Addis Ababa had been cancelled. An airport employee said a supervisor told staff the airport had been taken over and sent them home. A small number of federal police were reported to be at the airport; their situation was unclear. Conditions at the airports in Axum and Shire were not independently confirmed in the reports. Humanitarian and security sources said fighting broke out late Tuesday between TPLF and federal forces in Abala and Erebti, in the neighbouring Afar region. A former senior TPLF official claimed Tigrayan forces controlled six towns in Afar and that federal troops were retreating.