Ethiopian Airlines adds six Airbus A350-900s, its second Dubai Airshow order
Previously, Ethiopian Airlines ordered 11 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft.
Ethiopian Airlines and Airbus have announced that the airline has placed a firm order for six A350-900 aircraft, which is the carrier’s second order at this year’s Dubai Airshow.
On November 18, the pair said that Ethiopian Airlines is “further strengthening its position as the largest A350 customer in Africa” with a further six orders for the A350-900. Mesfin Tasew, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ethiopian Airlines Group, noted that it was “delighted to expand our Airbus fleet size with this order and strengthen our partnership with the Airbus company.”
During the previous Dubai Airshow in 2023, Ethiopian Airlines had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for 11 A350-900s, which, at the time, took the carrier’s A350 order book to 33 units, including four A350-1000 aircraft.
As of October 31, Airbus’ orders and deliveries filings showed that Ethiopian Airlines still had an order book of 33 A350s, including four A350-1000s, with the European planemaker having delivered 18 A350-900 and four A350-1000 aircraft.
It took delivery of two additional A350-900s on October 31 (ET-BCE) and November 12 (ET-BCD), which were initially scheduled to be delivered to China-based Sichuan Airlines. Aviation Flights Group records showed that both ET-BCE and ET-BCD completed multiple flights before their still-scheduled delivery to Sichuan Airlines, with the pair being painted in the Chinese airline’s livery.
On November 17, Ethiopian Airlines ordered another 11 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, which, according to Tasew, will “support our growth plans that we have set as part of our vision and strategy." This was its first order at the Dubai Airshow.
During the first day of the event, Airbus had only booked a helicopter order, yet on day two, the European planemaker’s orders included Etihad Airways, flydubai, and Air Europa ordering A321neo, A330-900, and A350, including the A350F aircraft.
The flydubai and Air Europa agreements were MoUs, which means that they have yet to be finalized before they would be added to Airbus’ backlog.
Rytis Beresnevicius
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