eli5 how do countries with crumbling infrastructure afford to properly train and field pilots and airliners?

Question

Ethiopia, for instance. Most of these airlines have remarkably good safety records considering how loosely regulated I would assume they are.

In: Economics

Answer 1

In Africa, it is often a point of pride for countries to have a national airline, so they are often supported and subsidized heavily by their respective governments.

In the case of Ethiopia, Ethiopian Airlines has a long-standing history of being a well-managed and professional firm. It was founded in the 1940s, before most countries in Africa even gained independence. Ethiopian Airlines is independently profitable in its own right, and even though it is also a state-owned national airline, over the years its management has seemed to be able to maintain a degree of independence from political turmoil in Ethiopia over the decades.