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Qatar Airways converts five A350s to larger -1000s
October 5th 2018
Qatar Airways this week converted five A350-900s orders to the larger -1000 variant. Read More » The agreement took the Doha-based carrier’s commitment to the -1000 to 42 aircraft and made it the variant’s best customer. Qatar Airways said the -1000 was well suited to grow its long-haul routes and add capacity.
“Qatar Airways is delighted to have upgraded five of its previously ordered A350-900 to the more recently launched A350-1000. Since taking delivery of the world’s first A350-1000 in February, we have been extremely pleased with the aircraft’s performance, which has prompted us to update our original order,” said Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker.
After formalising the conversion, Qatar Airways has orders for 42 A350-1000s and 34 A350-900s. The oneworld carrier has taken delivery of three -1000s and 29 -900s. It accepted its latest -900 this week, the third of four A350-900s on lease from ICBC Leasing and marked the 350th aircraft in the ICBC portfolio.
“ICBC Leasing is very proud to deliver our 350th aircraft to our long-term customer Qatar Airways. This is the ninth wide-body aircraft we have delivered to Qatar Airways, which shows our strong will to support the growth and global network development of the airline,” said ICBC Leasing CEO, Zhao Guicai.
All new A350 deliveries to Qatar Airways feature Qsuite, the airline’s signature business class seating.
This year the airline is expanding its network from Doha to Tallinn, Valletta, Langkawi and Da Nang. The latter destination will be launched on December 19 and will be the first intercontinental route from the Vietnamese coastal city. From 2020, Qatar Airways will start accepting its A321LRs that will operate “thin intercontinental routes”, the airline has said.
In September, Qatar Airways Group reported a full-year net loss of QAR252 million (US$69 million), a much better result than industry analysts had forecast, although still a significant reversal from a QAR2.9 billion net profit of the previous 12 months. Qatar Airways said the 2017-2018 fiscal year was “the most challenging” in the airline’s 20-year history and added the US$69 million loss demonstrated its “strength and resilience in the face of adversity”.
