News
Qatar Airways considers adding B777s
July 22nd 2016
Doha-based Qatar Airways has told Aviation Daily it was evaluating additional B777-300ER orders to make up for the capacity shortfall caused by delayed A350 deliveries. Read More »
The airline has a fleet of 34 -300ERs and 80 A350s on order. Eight of the A350s are in service. This year, Qatar Airways has taken delivery of a single A350, much fewer than it had anticipated, but it said it has had several meetings with Airbus in the past few weeks that ironed out disagreements over “build quality”.
The Akbar Al Baker-led airline still refuses to take delivery of the A320neo, and claimed not all the aircraft’s issues had been resolved, particularly engine cooling problems during periods of high temperatures. Al Baker has previously gone on record saying he might cancel his entire A320neo order in favour of Boeing’s competing 737 series, although no Boeing single-aisle orders have been recorded
Meanwhile, Bloomberg this week confirmed that the two additional A380s ordered by Emirates Airline this April were frames originally commissioned by Japan’s Skymark Airlines. The two aircraft will join Emirates’ fleet in the fourth-quarter of 2017. They are among 33 A380s the Dubai-based carrier is scheuduled to receive next year.
