Ethiopian Cargo 737 freighter turns back to Addis Ababa over crew passport issue

A cargo flight operated by Ethiopian Airlines turned back to Addis Ababa early on Monday, 12 October, after Israeli authorities objected to a crew member's nationality.

The aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 freighter registered ET-AVX, was operating flight ET3414 from Addis Ababa to Tel Aviv and departed at 01:40 local time as scheduled. The crew list reached Israeli authorities only after the freighter was airborne, and the check identified a cockpit crew member holding an Indonesian passport. Indonesia does not maintain diplomatic relations with Israel.

According to the account, security authorities and the transport ministry then told Ethiopian Airlines not to land in Israel. By that point the freighter had not travelled far. Flight tracking data showed it climbing to roughly 6,500 metres and flying only about 50 kilometres north before it began circling over Ethiopia.

Israel has moved to enforce its rules on foreign crews more strictly. Under the policy, crew members holding passports from states without diplomatic ties to Israel are not supposed to fly into Tel Aviv, though the requirement was barely policed for years. Enforcement was tightened after the attempted attack on Flydubai flight FZ1073 on 30 September, including for people with dual citizenship. Crew members from as many as 31 countries are affected.

The Israeli broadcaster Channel 13 first reported the incident.