Summary
- Ethiopian Airlines will start using its Airbus A350 fleet for flights to South America in October, increasing its capacity on the Addis Ababa-Sao Paulo route.
- The A350-900s can carry 343 passengers and will replace the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner currently used on flights to Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires.
- Ethiopian Airlines is celebrating its tenth year of operations to Brazil.
Ethiopian Airlines is set to introduce its long-haul Airbus A350 fleet on flights to South America starting this October, the company announced on Monday. Additionally, the Addis Ababa-based airline is celebrating its tenth year of operations to Brazil.
Introducing the A350
Starting in October, flights departing from Addis Ababa International Airport (ADD) in Ethiopia to Sao Paulo Guarulhos (GRU) and from Sao Paulo Guarulhos to Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) will be operated by the Airbus A350.
Ethiopian Airlines has a fleet of 133 aircraft, including 20 Airbus A350-900s, with an average age of 4.4 years old. These planes can carry 343 passengers in a two-class configuration. There are 30 flatbed seats on Ethiopian’s Cloud Nine business class and 313 standard seats in economy. The airline also expects to receive four new A350-1000s.
As of August 2023, Ethiopian deploys its A350-900 fleet on 305 weekly flights serving a variety of destinations throughout its route map. The routes to Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires are currently operated with the airline’s Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner.
Click here for flights from Addis Ababa to São Paulo.
Ethiopian Airlines in South America
The African carrier is celebrating ten years since introducing its direct flights between Addis Ababa and Sao Paulo. As part of these celebrations, Ethiopian is increasing its capacity, going from the 270-seat Boeing 787-8 to the 343-seat Airbus A350-900.
When the route was first announced in 2012, Ethiopian Airlines said it would fly to Sao Paulo from Addis Ababa with a stopover in Lome, Togo.
Ethiopian Airlines claims to be the only airline that continued operations to South America even during the months of stricter pandemic restrictions. The airline allows its Brazilian and Argentinian passengers to connect to over 180 destinations worldwide. In just the past year, the company has inaugurated five new routes: Atlanta, Karachi, Copenhagen, Zurich, and Madrid. Ethiopian added,
“With the fully renovated airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopian Airlines offers free stopovers for passengers connecting, allowing an additional destination to be added to the travel itinerary.”
Where can you find Ethiopian’s A350s?
Ethiopian Airlines operates its A350-900 fleet in routes from Addis Ababa to 24 destinations globally. The airline’s main route employing the A350 is to Dubai (DXB), where passengers can find flights twice a day using this new long-haul aircraft.
Click here for Addis Ababa to Dubai flights.
The only other destination to have double-digit weekly flights with the A350 is Cape Town (CPT), with 11 flights a week.
Find the latest South American aviation news here.
Other Ethiopian destinations where you can find the airline’s A350-900 fleet include Nairobi (NBO), Shanghai (PVG), Beijing (PEK), Milan Malpensa (MXP), London Heathrow (LHR), Kilimanjaro (JRO), Johannesburg (JNB), Frankfurt (FRA), Rome Fiumicino (FCO), Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG), Accra (ACC), Kinshasa (FIH), Abuja (ABV), Geneva (GVA), Harare (HRE), and more.
As stated before, Ethiopian Airlines’ fleet is composed of 133 aircraft. The A350-900 is the only Airbus-built subfleet the company has. Besides the 20 A350s, Ethiopian operates five Boeing 737-700s, 13 MAX 8s (with 17 more coming), ten 737-800s, four 737-800Fs, one 767-300ER, two 767-300ER Freighters, nine 777-200F, six 777-200LR, four 777-300ERs, 19 787-8 Dreamliners, ten 787-9s, and 30 De Havilland DHC-8-Q400s.
Have you ever been onboard Ethiopian Airlines’ Airbus A350 fleet? How did you find the experience? Let us know in the comments below.