Etihad Airways Chief executive said the company will unveil its new Airbus A350 wide-body aircraft at Dubai Airshow next month and present the fuel-efficient jet to its sustainability test-bed programme.

The airline will add the Airbus A350, jet-powered by Rolls-Royce XWB engines, to its Greenliner programme, which uses its fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners, to focus on finding sustainable flight solutions, Tony Douglas, group chief executive of Etihad Aviation Group, told The National.

“We’re going to introduce it to our broader sustainability programme, so it won’t just be the Greenliner, it will be the Greenliner and the A350-1000 because we’ve got the world’s two most efficient aircraft,” he said. “This is going to be part of a far bigger commitment, to say that Abu Dhabi is a thought leader that actually speaks through its actions as opposed to talking a good talk or having no substance behind it.”

Since 2019, when the Greenliner programme began, Etihad and Boeing have operated several flights aboard the Boeing 787 Dreamliner jet focusing on plastic-free in-flight products, optimised airspace management, flight deck tools for more eco-friendly take-offs, noise reduction and the use of sustainable aviation fuel.

The airline took delivery of its first A350 three months ago and the engineering team is in the process of fitting out the cabin interior, Douglas said.

He said that the first A350 is scheduled to enter into service next year, but the exact date will depend on market conditions, he said.

“It’s to be determined because of Covid, that’s driven by network and demand,” he said. “It will be during 2022 … it’s dependent on the market recovery and how many aircraft we put back in the sky.”

Douglas was speaking at the International Air Transport Association’s annual general meeting in Boston on Tuesday, a day after the industry body committed to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 to align the aviation sector’s climate change action to the 2015 Paris Agreement.