Ethiopian 737 MAX fleet additions included two Boeing 737-8 aircraft delivered in September 2026 on ferry routes that passed through Dublin before continuing to Addis Ababa, according to an Oct. 5 report by IrishAero. The deliveries added narrowbody capacity to Africa’s largest airline group while connecting a U.S. manufacturing location with the carrier’s Ethiopian hub.
IrishAero identified the airplanes by registrations ET-BCT and ET-BCU and provided separate mid-September ferry timelines. A delivery flight is a transfer operation rather than a newly announced passenger service between all the cities on the route. Dublin was an intermediate stop on the ferry flights, not a new scheduled Ethiopian passenger destination established by these movements.
The report describes aircraft already delivered by the time of its October publication. The event therefore should not be presented as an Oct. 16 delivery or confused with a future order announcement. Aircraft in an order backlog and aircraft handed over to an airline are at different stages of the fleet cycle.
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Ethiopian 737 MAX Aircraft Follow Separate Ferry Timelines
The first of the two reported deliveries involved aircraft ET-BCU, with its Boeing Field–Dublin–Addis Ababa journey taking place Sept. 15–17. The second, ET-BCT, followed a similar routing on Sept. 19–20. Those dates were recorded by the specialist aviation report and should be attributed accordingly.
The Boeing 737-8 belongs to the 737 MAX family and is used by many airlines for short- and medium-haul work. Its arrival can add operating flexibility, but the transfer route does not reveal which Ethiopian passenger services will use either particular airplane.
An airline taking delivery of an aircraft also must prepare it for operational deployment. Depending on its acceptance procedures, documentation and crew arrangements, an airplane may enter scheduled service after its physical arrival rather than immediately upon landing at the home airport.
Fleet registrations provide a way to distinguish individual airframes from one another. A story describing ‘two 737 MAX jets’ should retain that distinction rather than treating them as an unspecified pair that might be counted again in later fleet updates.
Fleet Growth Supports an Expanding African Hub
Ethiopian Airlines operates a global network through Addis Ababa and uses both widebody and narrowbody airplanes. Narrowbody aircraft can support regional services and selected longer sectors where their capacity and range fit market demand.
Adding two jets may provide opportunities for fleet renewal, additional frequency or greater resilience during maintenance. The delivery evidence alone does not prove which of those goals the company will prioritize. Route assignments and passenger capacity changes require a published airline schedule or operational evidence.
The 737 MAX family is part of Ethiopian’s wider aircraft planning alongside other Boeing and Airbus programs. A large orderbook can signal intended future fleet scale, but outstanding orders should not be added to the current operational fleet count.
Manufacturers and operators also manage technical and regulatory requirements for every delivered aircraft. The fact that a transfer journey was completed does not independently demonstrate the status of every future passenger flight or of every aircraft in the airline’s fleet.
Readers can follow other African carrier developments through The Aviation Diary’s airline section.
Dublin Stop Was Part of Delivery, Not Route Expansion
Dublin appears in the report because it was included in the aircraft ferry routing. Aircraft delivery journeys can involve intermediate airports for fuel, crew logistics or other operational reasons. The precise reason for each individual stop should not be inferred without a company statement.
The two transfers are distinct from a new commercial service announcement. No scheduled Addis Ababa–Dublin passenger flight was established by the IrishAero delivery report, and passengers cannot buy a ticket on a delivery ferry route merely because the aircraft landed at an airport.
The published details came from specialist observation of aircraft movements, not a comprehensive official Ethiopian fleet inventory. Counts of total airplanes in service should therefore be sourced to current airline records if needed in a future update.
FAQ: Ethiopian 737 MAX
How many Ethiopian 737 MAX aircraft were reported delivered?
IrishAero reported two Boeing 737-8 deliveries in September 2026.
Why did the Ethiopian 737 MAX aircraft visit Dublin?
Dublin was an intermediate stop on reported Boeing Field-to-Addis Ababa ferry routes; the exact operational reason was not specified.
Does this mean Ethiopian launched Dublin passenger flights?
No. These were aircraft transfer journeys, not evidence of a new scheduled Dublin service.
Looking Ahead
The next verifiable steps are airline confirmation of each aircraft’s deployment and any subsequent fleet delivery announcements. The two September movements should remain separately identified in future reporting to avoid counting the same airframes twice.
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