Qatar Airways Places Biggest Aircraft Orders In Its History

Qatar Airways is set to place its biggest ever aircraft order. The Doha-based carrier intents to add the Airbus A350 and the Boeing 777 to its fleet. Negotiations are under way with both Airbus and Boeing and Qatar Airways will shortly commit to the purchase which includes significant numbers of both aircraft types.

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker made the announcement during a press conference on the first day of the Paris Air Show in the French capital. He said the Airbus order would be worth US$10.6bn and the Boeing order US$4.6bn.

Akbar Al Baker during the announcemnet (Photo: Qatar Airways)

In the case of the Airbus A350 the purchase will be comprised of up to sixty (60) units of the A350-800 and the A350-900 variants. The Airbus A350 was chosen over the Boeing 787 after very extensive analysis. The decision was very hard to make as both aircraft types showed very strong advantages in different areas. In the end, the existence of the Airbus A330 in Qatar Airways' current fleet and slightly more advantageous commercial terms led us to believe that the A350 would be the optimum choice.

Qatar Airways' Airbus A350 aircraft will be delivered between mid-2010 and 2015 - first to supplement and then replace the A330 - as the airline's small- to medium-size widebody aircraft. The enhanced range and flexibility of this new generation aircraft will allow Qatar Airways to use the A350 on missions ranging from short-haul regional services to long-haul operations to the Far East, Europe and North America from its operational hub of Doha, capital of the State of Qatar.

Qatar Airways intends to purchase at least twenty (20) Boeing B777 aircraft of three variants, the B777-300ER, B777-200LR and B777-200F. It is Qatar Airways' intention to make the B777 the airline's standard large widebody, with the B777-300ER likely to account for around half of the orders.

Qatar Airways' initial B777 order would be delivered to the airline between 2007 and 2010. The B777-300ER will allow capacity growth on the airline's rapidly-growing and airport slot-constrained routes, whereas the B777-200LR will be allocated to new routes to North America and Australasia.

The exceptional range capability and economics of the B777-200F freighter will supplement Qatar Airways' existing medium-haul Airbus A300-600R freighter fleet and facilitate the strong cargo growth that we anticipate with the opening of the new Doha International Airport in 2009.