Ethiopian Airlines (ET, Addis Ababa International) has converted four of its six outstanding A350-900 orders into A350-1000s, becoming the first customer of the larger variant in Africa.

"We are delighted over the upsizing of the A350-900 on order to the largest variant, A350-1000, that helps us stay ahead of the curve in technology. The A350-1000 is the best fit for our dense routes, and we believe that the upsizing will be instrumental in satisfying the increasing demand of customers in our vast global network across five continents," Chief Executive Mesfin Tasew said.

The carrier and the manufacturer did not disclose any delivery dates for the -1000s. Ethiopian Airlines also has two more unconverted -900 orders. Its current fleet of the type comprises 18 units alongside three B767-300ERs, six B777-200(LR)s, four B777-300(ER)s, nineteen B787-8s, and nine B787-9s.

The only other African A350 operator, Air Mauritius (MK, Mauritius), has four -900s, the ch-aviation fleets module shows.