Ethiopian Airlines suspends flights to three northern Tigray airports

Ethiopian Airlines said on Wednesday it has temporarily stopped flying to three airports in northern Tigray — Mekelle, Axum and Shire — because of the "current situation in the Tigray region." The carrier apologised for the disruption and said it would notify customers when operations resume. Flight-tracking service Flightradar24 showed a cancellation of the route between Mekelle and Addis Ababa on Wednesday morning.

The suspension followed reports that Tigrayan forces took control of Alula Aba Nega Airport in Mekelle from federal police overnight. An employee at the airport told AFP that supervisors instructed staff to return home after learning the facility had been seized; a foreign security source in Ethiopia independently confirmed that account to AFP. Reuters and AFP both cited local sources for the report of the airport takeover.

The developments come after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front said it had formed an alliance with six other armed groups across Ethiopia, a move that has coincided with rising tensions in the region. Rights organisations have accused the TPLF of carrying out forced recruitment campaigns this year as it prepares for possible renewed fighting.

The episode underscores lingering fragility in Tigray since the end of large-scale hostilities under the Pretoria Peace Agreement in 2022. The TPLF governed Ethiopia from 1991 until 2018; the 2020-2022 conflict is estimated by the African Union to have caused about 600,000 deaths. Parts of the peace deal remain incomplete and roughly one million people are still displaced in the region. Clashes that resumed in late 2025 had already raised fears of a return to broader war, and Ethiopia also faces separate rebellions in Oromia and Amhara regions.