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# ERITREA: Ethiopian Airlines Continues to Use Asmara FIR Even As Eritrea-Ethiopia Sever Diplomatic Ties
- URL: https://insideaviation.news/eritrea-ethiopian-airlines-continues-to-use-asmara-fir-even-as-eritrea-ethiopia-sever-diplomatic-ties/
- Published: 2026-10-13T05:51:41.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-13T05:51:41.000Z
- Description: ASMARA, Eritrea: Ethiopian Airlines continues to overfly Eritrean airspace on select scheduled services despite the Eritrea and Ethiopia formally severing diplomatic relations and renewed fighting along their shared border.
- Author: Inside Aviation News
- Tags: Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ethiopian Airlines, Aeropolitics, Asmara, Addis Ababa

ASMARA, Eritrea

- Ethiopian Airlines continues to overfly Eritrean airspace on select scheduled services despite Ethiopia and Eritrea formally severing diplomatic relations and renewed fighting along their border.
- The carrier suspended all flights to Asmara in September 2024 after Eritrean authorities froze its local accounts. However, overflight rights were never withdrawn.
- Recent tracks of Ethiopian Airlines services between Addis Ababa and Jeddah (ET402/403), and between Addis Ababa and Tel Aviv (ET418/419) and v.v, show the aircraft continuing to use the Asmara Flight Information Region (HHAA).

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9f/06/9f06957b-c580-46e1-850c-cc2364e828b8/content/images/2026/10/image-5.png)

Example ET403 JED-ADD flight track (Courtesy Flightradar24)

- Traffic on the Addis–Jeddah corridor typically crosses the southern portion of the Asmara FIR on airways A451/UA451 and UV790.
- Named waypoints into/out of Eritrean airspace to/from the Jeddah FIR include KOBAS and RASKA while waypoints BOPSA, IBRAD. and OKMAB lie on the boundary with the Addis FIR.
- Flight-tracking data shows the same pattern of terrestrial Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) coverage gaps over the Asmara FIR that affects other carriers in the region. The gap is consistent with sparse ground-receiver coverage rather than deliberate transponder deactivation.
- However, ADS-B tracking also shows a significant amount of northbound Ethiopian Airlines traffic, which had previously enjoyed more efficient travel through Eritrean airspace, has been re-routed via the eastern confines of the Khartoum FIR.
- Eritrean media have previously described the continued allowance of Ethiopian Airlines overflights as a deliberate act of restraint.
- Ethiopia and Eritrea severed diplomatic ties in early October 2026 amid mutual accusations of cross-border military activity in northern Ethiopia. Ethiopian forces have reported Eritrean troops operating inside Tigray; Eritrea has denied the claims.
- Fighting in the Tigray region has included drone strikes and ground clashes. Ethiopian Airlines briefly suspended domestic services to Mekelle before resuming them on 11 October.
- While no European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Conflict Zone Information Bulletin or equivalent formal restriction currently covers the Asmara FIR, it has advised civilian carriers to take potential risk into account in their risk assessment and routing decisions when using the Addis Ababa FIR, in particular northern parts - north of 8.5°N latitude - below FL260.
- Neither Ethiopian Airlines nor the Eritrean Ministry of Information responded to an InsideAviation.news request for comment.

**Sources:**

- [Ethiopian Airlines announcement on Asmara suspension](https://corporate.ethiopianairlines.com/Press-release-open-page/announcdement?ref=insideaviation.news)
- [BBC on September 2024 suspension](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62r1r5g816o?ref=insideaviation.news)
- [Addis Standard on frozen accounts](https://addisstandard.com/ethiopian-airlines-cites-frozen-account-as-latest-reason-for-suspending-flights-to-asmara/?ref=insideaviation.news)
- [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/eritrea-says-it-is-severing-all-diplomatic-ties-with-ethiopia-2026-10-01/?ref=insideaviation.news)
- [AP on embassy closure and diplomat expulsions](https://apnews.com/article/ethiopia-blasts-tigray-war-a864e8cd442bade4531b8e7609f3216c?ref=insideaviation.news)
- [Al Jazeera on severing ties](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/1/eritrea-severs-diplomatic-ties-with-ethiopia-in-tit-for-tat-move?ref=insideaviation.news)