Ethiopian Airlines announced that it has stopped flying through Somalia's airspace, which it was using for its flights to Asian countries.

Ethiopian Airlines CEO Mesfin Tasew told BBC Amharic that the airline reached this decision because it did not receive "safe air traffic services" from Somalia's air traffic controllers.

Last Saturday, the Ethiopian Airlines’ plane flight number 602 which was travelling from Addis Ababa to Dubai was reportedly to collide with Qatar Airways’ aircraft which was flying in proximity over Somalia’s airspace because of the permission from Mogadishu air traffic controllers.

He stated that the incident occurred last Saturday made Ethiopian Airlines' service provided by Somalia air traffic controllers "unsafe" thereby the Airlines has decided to stop using Somalia's airspace immediately the day after the incident happened.

“We decided to use an alternative because we do not have reliable air traffic services in the air region, so we are using alternative routes for the sake of safety.” 

The CEO recalled that the Airlines used Somali airspace for its flights to Asia. Currently, the flights to Asia are being made through the airspace of Djibouti.

He explained that although Ethiopian Airlines has stopped using Somali airspace for flights to other countries, its flights to Mogadishu and Somaliland's capital Hargeisa have continued "without problems".