CEO of Qatar Airways Badr Mohammed Al Meer said on Monday that the company is in talks with Airbus and Boeing for a big order for wide-body aircraft.
Al Meer acknowledged the report regarding the company’s discussions with Airbus to purchase A350 aircraft and with Boeing to purchase 777X aircraft is largely accurate.
Al Meer said the ‘order is in the three-digit range’ without confirming the exact number of aircraft that may be ordered.
As per Bloomberg, Qatar Airways is in discussions to purchase about 200 aircraft, divided between Airbus and Boeing.
Though Al Meer has confirmed the talks regarding an order but declined to comment on whether the number was higher or lower than the figure mentioned in the report.
Understandably, a decision could be made as soon as the Farnborough Air Show in Britain late next month.
Discussing the airline’s expansion plans, Al Meer said Qatar Airways is poised to announce a promising deal with an airline in Southern Africa within the next two to three months. The airline is actively engaging with Australia to expand its network of destinations in the country.
“We are looking forward to expanding and growing more in the Australian market,” he said, adding that the airline keeps all communications ‘continuing’ with the Australian government.
In the past, Qatar Airways had ordered 65 B777X passenger jets, and the Ex-CEO of Qatar Airways, Mr. Baker expected to receive its first three in 2023 following delays from the Seattle based aerospace giant.
Boeing had also pushed the inaugural delivery plan of B777X to 2023, three years later than initially planned with a longer and costlier certification process. But the B777X deliveries are nowhere to be seen in the current year, leaving the wide body market in a limbo.
In its last order with Boeing, Qatar Airways had finalized an order of 25 737 MAX airplanes, in a departure from carrier’s short- and medium-haul Airbus A320. The Gulf carrier had announced the order for a 737-10 fleet in a signing ceremony at the Farnborough International Airshow in July 2022.
Worth mentioning, in the past, the continuation of the famous legal battle between Airbus and Qatar Airways involving paint deterioration of the Airbus A350 XWB planes, had slowed down the further wide body orders to the Europen plane maker.
However, scenario has changed much since then, and after the mutual closure of the legal suit with Airbus, Qatar Airways is maintaining a balanced relationship with both the plane makers. It will indeed be interesting, if the wide body order is balanced beween Airbus and Boeing.
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