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“Gentlemen’s agreement” between Bregier and Al Baker
March 4th 2016
Airbus president and CEO, Fabrice Bregier, while in China this week, told media the manufacturer is confident it will deliver a “very reliable” Pratt & Whitney PW1100G-powered A320neo to former launch customer, Qatar Airways, by mid-year. Read More » This, Bregier added, will allow Airbus “to ramp up production and deliveries in the second half of the year”.
“We have a gentlemen’s agreement with Qatar to postpone delivery. They will take the aircraft when we believe it is mature enough for them, and around mid-year is what I would guess.”
Qatar had threatened to cancel the Pratt & Whitney engine order for its incoming 34 A320neos because of “a lot of problems”, including start-up time and software issues. Instead, the first A320neo was delivered to Lufthansa, following Qatar Airways’ rejection. Bregier said Lufthansa is “satisfied” with the re-engined single-aisle aircraft.
At India’s IndiGo, which had anticipated delivery of 26 neos by March 2017, it was announced this week that it now plans to accept only 24 of the aircraft type in the next year. IndiGo has 250 neos on firm order, valued at $26.6 billion at list prices. To bridge the capacity gap, the budget carrier has leased seven used A320ceos that will arrive at the airline from this month to November.
