The global aviation industry is witnessing a clear example of how not to manage a crisis.
In 2019, following the Boeing 737 MAX crash, Ethiopian Airlines was widely praised for its swift, empathetic, and visible response. Executives appeared early. Families were prioritised. Communication was steady, human, and reassuring. The airline became a model of African excellence under pressure.
Seven years later, the reported death of 70-year-old Nigerian passenger Patience Ngozi Adiele during a January 2026 Ethiopian Airlines journey has exposed a worrying decline in the airline’s crisis response standards.
This time, the defining feature of the response has not been leadership or clarity. It has been silence.
By prioritising legal caution over human connection, Ethiopian Airlines has not merely lost a passenger. It is rapidly losing trust in one of its most important markets.
The Golden Hour That Was Lost
Crisis professionals describe the first hour after a serious incident as the Golden Hour. It is the narrow window in which an organisation either establishes credibility or loses control of the narrative.
When Flight ET950 landed and the tragedy became known, Ethiopian Airlines did not publicly occupy that space. There was no immediate acknowledgment, no interim statement, and no visible leadership presence. In that vacuum, grief, speculation, and online activism rushed in.
Once the narrative hardened online, the airline was no longer leading the story. It was reacting to it.
Staff Silence and Public Suspicion
Among the most damaging claims circulating on social media are reports that flight crew members who rendered first aid were instructed not to speak with the Adiele family. While the airline has not addressed these claims publicly, the perception alone has been corrosive.
In crisis communications, employees are not liabilities. They are first ambassadors. When staff appear muted, restricted, or fearful, the public draws a predictable conclusion. There is something to hide.
This perception fuels outrage, leaks, and speculation, often regardless of the underlying facts.
The No Comment Trap in a Digital Age
As appeals from the family gained traction online and were amplified by prominent voices on X, formerly Twitter, Ethiopian Airlines maintained public silence.
This violates one of the most basic rules of modern crisis management. If you do not shape the narrative early, the public will shape it for you.
According to Muck Rack, organisations that rehearse crisis protocols are 40 percent more likely to respond within the first hour of an incident. At the time of writing, more than 144 hours had reportedly passed without a public statement from the airline.
In today’s media environment, delay is not interpreted as caution. It is interpreted as indifference.
What Is Happening Behind the Scenes
Behind the public silence, there has been documented regulatory activity that complicates the narrative but does not resolve it.
On January 29, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that Ethiopian Airlines submitted a preliminary internal report concerning the incident on Flight ET950. This suggests that formal procedures were activated and that engagement with regulators is ongoing.
Media engagement has also occurred indirectly. When contacted by major Nigerian outlets such as The Punch, the airline’s communication strategist, Ikechi Uko, acted as an intermediary, requesting that formal questions be forwarded to Ethiopian Airlines’ headquarters in Addis Ababa. While this reflects a tightly controlled communications approach, it has also reinforced perceptions of distance and opacity.
Meanwhile, the NCAA has assumed an unusually active mediation role. According to its Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, the authority has been in near-daily contact with the Adiele family while awaiting further technical details from the airline in pursuit of what it describes as full closure.
This creates a critical tension. The issue is not that nothing is happening. It is that what is happening is largely invisible to the people who matter most in a crisis. The family, the travelling public, and the wider Nigerian audience.
In modern crisis management, process without presence is insufficient. Regulatory compliance does not substitute for human communication. When empathy is outsourced to regulators and public engagement is avoided, trust erodes even if procedures are technically followed.
Stakeholder Mismanagement
A major flaw in Ethiopian Airlines’ response has been its failure to recognise that stakeholders are not a single group.
For the family, the absence of visible empathy and consistent engagement has created an impression of coldness and secrecy. Families in crises of this nature require transparency, regular updates, and signs that senior leadership is personally involved. Anything less is read as dismissal.
Among the Nigerian public, the silence has been interpreted as undervaluing Nigerian lives. In a competitive aviation market, such sentiment is more than emotional. It carries economic consequences. Senior executive visibility on Nigerian media platforms was essential.
From a regulatory perspective, the lack of visible communication creates an impression of defensiveness rather than cooperation. In aviation, trust is built not only on compliance but on posture.
Internally, staff morale is likely affected. Employees who feel constrained or uncertain about doing the humane thing in a crisis may become fearful. Effective crisis leadership reassures staff that integrity will be protected.
By failing to address the needs of these distinct groups, Ethiopian Airlines has turned a tragic incident into a multi-layered reputational crisis.
What Should Have Happened
Had Ethiopian Airlines deployed a clear, people-first crisis protocol, the past week could have been very different.
Within two hours, a Family Assistance Team should have met the family, providing clarity, care, and a direct line to senior leadership.
Within twenty-four hours, the airline’s digital channels should have shifted from automated posts to human acknowledgment, expressing awareness of the incident, concern, and a commitment to investigation.
Within forty-eight hours, a brief and unpolished message from the CEO expressing condolences would have reframed the narrative. This would not have admitted legal liability. It would have admitted humanity.
The Verdict: Silence Is Failing as a Strategy
AI tools can reduce sentiment-analysis time by 30 percent. Media monitoring platforms can detect outrage in real time. But no technology can replace judgment, empathy, and visible leadership.
Available indicators suggest negative sentiment toward Ethiopian Airlines is rising across West Africa. If leadership continues to respond from a defensive posture rather than from the front, the damage to its reputation and its Vision 2035 expansion plans may be long lasting.
In crisis communications, inaction is often more damaging than an imperfect response. By waiting for the perfect legal statement, Ethiopian Airlines risks having already lost the only court that truly matters. The court of public opinion.
Silence is not neutral. Silence is deadly.
