Ethiopian Airlines has grounded three aircraft due to a shortage of spare parts even as it raises concerns over price gouging .

The airline's CEO, Mesfin Tassew, attributed the grounding to both a scarcity of parts for maintenance and "unethical business practices" within the supply chain.

"I have to admit we are suffering from a shortage of spare parts. It's created a great burden on all airlines, including Ethiopian Airlines," Mr Tassew is quoted by the Reporter.

The unavailability of parts, delays in delivery, and price gouging are among the problems facing the airline, according to Mesfin.

"We don't get the spare parts when we request them, so we want our suppliers to work with their supply chain aggressively to find innovative solutions and improve their parts delivery," he said.

"Whenever we order parts, we expect our suppliers to ship them out in the shortest possible time."

The CEO defended his claims that some of the carrier's suppliers were overcharging for their goods.

"I have to say that some suppliers would like to take advantage of the shortage to harvest undeservedly high prices."

"Parts sometimes cost three times more than the usual prices. It is an unethical business practice. Prices are increasing because of global inflation and we accept that, but it has to be reasonable," said the CEO.

Last year, KQ said it was experiencing flight disruptions due to delays in securing aircraft components required for maintenance.

It linked the shortages to the Ukraine war crisis, which significantly crippled the Russian supply chain crucial to global aviation.

KQ cited titanium from Russia as one of the key raw materials used by the aviation industry and is crucial to the maintenance of planes.

The carrier said recently that it is still grappling with the shortage of parts, a move that has seen it ground one of its Boeing aircraft and resorted to leasing in order to boost available capacity.