Ethiopian Airlines has signed for eight Boeing 777-8Fs and two current-generation 777Fs, with options on eight more of the next-generation freighters. CEO Mesfin Tasew and Boeing Senior Vice President of Global Sales Brad McMullen put pen to paper at a ceremony attended by US Ambassador to Ethiopia Ervin Massinga.

The contract firms up a deal that industry sources flagged weeks earlier. Reuters reported in early September 2026, citing two sources, that Ethiopian was nearing an agreement for 10 777-family freighters.

Delivery schedules stretch across nearly a decade. According to local media, the two 777Fs arrive between 2027 and 2028, while the eight 777-8Fs follow between 2033 and 2035. Boeing does not expect the 777-8F to enter service until around 2029.

That timing frames the order. Ethiopian operates the largest widebody freighter fleet in Africa — ch-aviation data shows 12 777-200Fs, two 767-300Fs and four 737-800SFs — and the two near-term 777Fs will sustain capacity while the 777-8F commitments secure replacement tonnage for the 2030s, when the carrier's earliest 777Fs will approach two decades of service.

The order also draws on newly created regulatory headroom. The FAA recently granted Boeing an exemption from fuel-efficiency limits that take effect in 2028, allowing the manufacturer to sell 35 additional 777Fs.

Boeing petitioned for the waiver in December 2025. Under the new rules, the 777F would no longer have been eligible for certification after December 31, 2027. In its petition, Boeing argued the gap between that deadline and the 777-8F's arrival would leave the market without a large freighter supply.

"Additional 777Fs are needed after January 1, 2028, to maintain an uninterrupted supply of large freighters to the market prior to the introduction of the 777-8F," Boeing wrote. "This petition therefore requests exemption of a total quantity of 35 777F airplanes until achievement of 777-8F first delivery and entry into service."

The FAA confirmed the grant on September 16, 2026: "The Boeing Company is granted an exemption from the requirements of 14 CFR part 38, subpart B and the referenced Appendix A to the extent necessary to provide Boeing the opportunity to obtain first certificates of airworthiness for up to thirty-five newly built 777F airplanes issued on or after January 1, 2028, through January 1, 2031."

The exemption effectively caps the 777F program's remaining production run at 35 airframes over a three-year window, meaning Ethiopian's two deliveries consume slots from a fixed pool that other cargo operators will also compete for before the 777-8F bridges the gap toward the end of the decade.

For Ethiopian, the split order balances immediate fleet needs against long-haul cargo growth anchored in its Addis Ababa hub. The airline has built its cargo operation into a core profit pillar alongside its passenger network, and the 777-8F — with greater capacity and improved fuel burn than the 777F — will carry that strategy into the 2030s.

Boeing now holds firm commitments for the 777-8F from one of the largest cargo operators in the developing world, adding a second African-flag anchor customer decision to a freighter backlog it must still translate into a certified, flying aircraft by 2029.