Ethiopian Airlines looking at A350-1000 and Boeing 777X

Ethiopian Airlines is weighing whether to expand its fleet with the 366-seat Airbus A350-1000 or the latest version of the 777 long-haul jet built by its traditional supplier Boeing, widely known as the 777X, its CE said. Tewolde GebreMariam was speaking after taking delivery of the first of 14 A350-900 jets to be placed in the airline's fleet, leased from Dutch-based AerCap. The aircraft delivered to Ethiopian has 343 seats. "We have 14 of these A350 and we have more (Boeing) 787s. We are comparing the A350-1000 and also the 777X. Depending on which performs well out of Addis Ababa at altitude and high temperature, we are going to make that decision," GebreMariam said. Asked how many extra aircraft the airline could order, he said, "between 15 and 20". He did not say when the airline planned to make a decision. "We want to know more about the A350-1000," he said.<br/>