Ethiopian Airlines Gets Africa’s First Airbus A350-1000, Sends It to the U.S.

There’s a brand-new airplane flying for the largest airline in Africa, and you can expect to see it soon in the United States as well.

Ethiopian Airlines has taken delivery of its first Airbus A350-1000, with a new business class that looks like a big improvement over the current product on most of its long-haul planes.

The airline says the new jet will begin flying to Washington, D.C. in December. This is good news for passengers to Ethiopia and beyond on the airline’s large international network.

Let’s look at what makes this airplane an exciting addition to flights from the U.S.

The Biggest Airbus in Production

The A350-1000 is the larger of the 2 versions of the A350 twinjet, with the smaller A350-900. It’s also the biggest Airbus currently in production after the European company stopped making the giant double-decker A380.

Like its direct competitor, the Boeing 787, the A350 offers more passenger comfort than older planes. That’s because it is largely made of composite materials. This allows greater humidity in the cabin than older jets, as well as pressurization that makes passengers feel they are at a lower altitude than on other planes.

Ethiopian’s A350-1000 also has newer cabins than the rest of the airline’s long-haul fleet. In particular, the business class cabin is laid out in a 1-2-1 arrangement, so everybody has direct aisle access, unlike the 2-2-2 layout found on some other Ethiopian jets.

Ethiopian’s New Business Class Comes to the U.S.

In December, Ethiopian Airlines’ A350-1000s are expected to begin flying to Washington, D.C. (IAD) from its hub in Addis Ababa (ADD), the connection point for its far-ranging network.

With a big business class cabin featuring 46 seats, there is ample room for travelers to experience what promises to be one of the best seats on nonstop routes from the U.S. to Africa.

The lie-flat seats sport 17.3-inch 4K high-definition screens with Bluetooth connectivity, plus USB-A and USB-C charging ports. And Wi-Fi is free for all passengers, as reported by Sam Chui.

In economy class, legroom for most of the 349 seats is 32 inches, the same as on many twin-aisle jets in coach. Ethiopian Airlines does not have a separate premium economy class.

To see whether your Ethiopian A350 flight is on the new plane, look at the seat map during booking on the airline’s site. If it has 53 rows of seats, it’s an A350-1000. If it has 47, it’s an A350-900, which comes in both 2-2-2 and 1-2-1 business-class layouts.

Ethiopian Airlines’ Global Network

Flight-tracking site Flightradar24 shows that, since being delivered from the Airbus factory on November 5, 2024, Ethiopian’s sole A350-1000 has been flying mostly around Africa, with occasional forays to Dubai (DXB) and Paris (CDG).

Those are short hops for an A350, which can fly nonstop for 10,000 miles. Airlines often deploy their new long-haul jets on relatively short flights for a while, so cabin crews can familiarize themselves with the plane before tackling routes far away from home base. Ethiopian has a total of 4 A350-1000s on order.

Ethiopian Airlines is a fast-growing carrier with a hub in Addis Ababa. From there, it serves 6 destinations in North America: New York (JFK), Newark (EWR), Washington, D.C. (IAD), Atlanta (ATL), Los Angeles (LAX), and Toronto (YYZ). It has an especially strong network in Africa.

Final Thoughts

There’s a good chance you have seen an Ethiopian Airlines plane on your travels; the carrier is Africa’s biggest, a major international player, and a partner of United Airlines.

With the arrival of the Airbus A350-1000 in its fleet, Ethiopian Airlines now has a business class product that can compete with some of the best — and it’s sending it to the U.S. soon. That means now may be a good time to look at ways to redeem your points and miles to fly this rapidly growing carrier.