News
Qatar Airways signs for up 100 Boeing jets
October 14th 2016
Qatar Airways CEO, Akbar Al Baker, last Friday confirmed an order for 30 B787-9s and ten B777-300ERs. He also signed Letters of Intent for up to 60 B737 MAX 8s, bringing the potential value of the deal to $18.6 billion at list prices. Read More »
The Boeing deal is a blow to Airbus and some industry insiders have suggested Qatar Airways also plans to completely withdraw from its order of 50 A320neo. The Doha-based carrier already has cancelled orders for four of the 50 jets after Airbus failed to fix engine performance shortcomings to Al Baker’s satisfaction.
At last Friday’s signing ceremony in Washington, the Qatar CEO said he “had no alternative but to order the reliable 737 family of aircraft” to mitigate risk to his airline. The oneworld member has 54 B777s and 30 B787-8s with 60 B777Xs on firm order.
In Jeddah, SAUDIA this week said it will retire its entire B777-200ER fleet by the end of 2017 and plans to replace the ‘Triple 7s’ mainly with Airbus’ new A330-300 Regional. It has ordered 20 of the type and is its launch customer.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, new Omani government backed low-cost carrier (LCC), Salam Air, aims to begin operations before year-end with A320s rather than the previously mooted B737s.
In Dubai, Emirates Airline has announced a wide-ranging codeshare and frequent flyer program partnership with São Paulo-based LCC, GOL, and Etihad Airways has signed a codeshare deal with South African budget airline, Kulula.
