Ethiopian Airlines has taken delivery of its 20th Airbus A350-900, registered as ET-AZN, marking the completion of its 2017 order. The delivery ceremony was held at Airbus’ facility in Toulouse, France, and the aircraft flew to Ethiopia using a 30% sustainable aviation fuel blend. This is a milestone for Ethiopian Airlines as it is their first flight operated with sustainable aviation fuel in cooperation with Airbus. The airline has configured its A350-900 with 30 seats in business class and 318 seats in economy class, totaling 348 seats.
As is once again a tradition at the airline, Ethiopian names the new Airbus A350-900 “Adwa”, the historic place where the great battle (the battle of Adwa) against colonialism that took place in 1886.
The Airbus A350-900 has become a versatile aircraft for Ethiopian Airlines, operating to a variety of regional destinations in Africa, including Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, as well as to Beijing, Shanghai, Frankfurt, Paris, London, and Dubai.
The Star Alliance airline placed its initial order for 12 Airbus A350-900 aircraft on September 11, 2009, at the Dubai Airshow. The airline later increased the order to 14 aircraft in 2011 with the first A350-900 delivered in June 2016, making the airline the first African carrier to operate the aircraft. In June 2017 during the Paris Air Show, Ethiopian signed a new agreement with Airbus to purchase 10 additional A350-900s, bringing the total number of A350s on order to 24.
The A350-900s will soon be joined by A350-1000s, as Ethiopian Airlines modified its order for four A350-1000s in 2022. Currently, Ethiopian is the 7th largest customer of the A350 widebody aircraft.
According to Cirium data, Ethiopian Airlines plans to use the A350-900 to fly to 29 destinations from its hub in Addis Ababa from June to September. Of the 29, 14 are within Africa, 10 are in Europe, two are in the Middle East, two in Asia, and one in North America. Cape Town has the most A350-900 flights from Addis Ababa in these four months, with 11 weekly flights.
Ethiopian Airlines’ fleet now comprises 141 aircraft, including passenger and freight, active and inactive. Its widebody fleet also consists of six Boeing 777-200s (LR), four Boeing 777-300s (ER), nineteen Boeing 787-8s, and ten Boeing 787-9s with 49% of Ethiopian’s entire fleet being widebodies.
