Etihad Cargo has taken delivery of its fourth Boeing 777 Freighter from the Boeing factory in Everett, Washington.
The aircraft, which is the 11th freighter in the Etihad fleet overall, will enter commercial service on March 1, 2016, according to the airline.
“The additional freighter gives us the opportunity to expand our specialist cargo services and grow our market share,” said Kevin Knight, chief strategy and planning officer at Etihad Airways. “Over the last year, we have been expanding into South America, Africa and Asia and the new aircraft will enhance capacity and enable us to increase frequency across our scheduled network, but importantly also increase our charter opportunities to growth areas of the world.”
The 777 is the first in the Etihad Cargo fleet to be equipped with nine seats, which allows the airline to carry grooms for its Sky Stables horse-transportation product. Another 777 with the same configuration is scheduled to be delivered in March 2016.
The two 777s were ordered at the Dubai Air Show 2015.
Etihad Cargo operates its fleet of four Airbus A330-200Fs, two 747-400Fs, one 747-8F and four 777Fs to 14 freighter-only destinations, including Bogota, Dakar, Douala, Eldoret, Hahn, Hanoi, Houston, Nouakchott, San Juan, Sharjah and Tbilisi.
Etihad Cargo transported a total of 592,090 tonnes of freight and mail in 2015, which was a 4-percent increase compared to 2014, according to the carrier.