Ethiopian Airlines Adds 11 More Boeing 737 MAX 8 Aircraft at Dubai Airshow 2025

Ethiopian Airlines is a very interesting airline to look at. Interestingly the airline becomes particularly active in terms of aircraft orders when the Dubai Air Show comes around. This tends to be the venue where most African carriers make their move in terms of aircraft orders. Ethiopian, the largest airline on the continent, has made its move with both camps, Airbus and Boeing. The Boeing order has the airline increasing its order book for 737 MAX aircraft.

Ethiopian Airlines Adds 11 More Boeing 737 MAX 8 Aircraft

Riding the media visibility wave generated by Dubai Airshow 2025, Ethiopian Airlines has announced a new narrow body order by its sole provider of this aircraft segment, Boeing.

The new order has Ethiopian Airlines increase its order book with Boeing with 11 additional Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes.

The planes should be configured in the same way as those already present in the fleet. That means with. 2-class setup featuring:

• 16 Business Class Seats (recliners) 2-2 layout
• 144 Economy Class Seats 3-3 layout

Strengthening Regional and International Growth

Ordering these planes further strengthens Ethiopian Airlines' regional and continental operational capabilities. Additionally by phasing out older 737 NG aircraft it will help the airline save money on fuel. The new MAX generation of 737 is significantly more fuel efficient and along with a larger cabin capacity ensures wider profit margins. Which in a razor thin margin industry as aviation makes a massive difference.

Boeing and Ethiopian Airlines’ Longstanding Partnership

Ethiopian Airlines is the single most important client for Boeing in the African continent. The airline relies heavily on Boeing supplied aircraft to power its operations.

That is all the more the case when looking at Ethiopian Airlines' narrow body fleet. In this segment the carrier solely operates Boeing planes, specifically from the 737 family.

While it still operates the older NG generation of planes in the form of the 737-700 and 737-800 it has been gradually replacing them with the new generation 737 MAX 8.