Airline Also Has Most Firm Orders For A350 XWB
Boeing Company, won a $6.1 billion order for 30 of its 787
Dreamliner aircraft and five freighter 777s from Qatar Airways...
who is also the largest customer for competitor Airbus SAS's A350
XWB.
Qatar Airways also took an option to buy 30 more 787s, the
carrier said Monday in a statement distributed at the Dubai Air
Show, according to Bloomberg. Qatar Airways has 80 A350s on firm
order.
Boeing had a total of 710 orders valued at about $120 billion
for the 787 Dreamliner as of mid-October, the Chicago-based
company's best sales effort. The Qatar Airways order was previously
included in a list Boeing published in July of 787 customers that
didn't disclose the number of planes.
Boeing, which competes with Airbus for the title of top jetliner
manufacturer, said October 10 the 787's first delivery will be put
off by six months to November 2008 because of parts shortages and
assembly delays, as reported in ANN.
Doha-based Qatar Airways is the second airline in the Middle
East to order the Dreamliner, after Royal Jordanian -- which said
in May it would buy two of the aircraft. The 787 costs $158.3
million on average, compared with a list price of $229 million for
the 250- to 350-seat Airbus A350.
Arab airlines are expected to increase their combined fleet by
almost two-thirds to 900 aircraft by 2015 from 550 planes in 2006,
according to the Arab Carriers Organization. Mixing competing
models, as Qatar is doing, can help airlines win lower purchase
prices for planes. Singapore Airlines Ltd. also has contracts to
buy both 787s and A350s.
Governments in the region encourage hubs for tourism and transit
flights between Europe, Asia and Africa.
Qatar Airways has big plans to replace older models and buy
newer aircraft for a route expansion. The airline wants to double
its fleet to more than 110 aircraft by 2015 and may need as many as
150 jets n 2015 to expand to 79 destinations, according to
Bloomberg.
"They have for a long time had an aggressive growth pattern in
this order and the Dreamliners and A350 order show that they have
no intention of slowing up," Richard Pinkham, with the Centre for
Asia Pacific Aviation in Singapore.
"It makes them even bigger, putting them not so very far behind
Emirates," Pinkham added. "They will continue to try to work hand
in hand with the Qatar government to build up Doha as a leisure and
business destination while also playing a major role in the
intercontinental transfer market."
Qatar Airways also said Monday it is evaluating planes in the
80- to 100-seat range... indicating Airbus and Boeing are not on
top of the list of manufacturers in that contest, in favor of
regional aircraft manufacturers like Bombardier and Embraer.
The carrier plans to be the first airline in the world to use
"gas to liquid" fuel in planes rather than traditional jet fuel,
Qatar CEO Akbar al-Baker told Bloomberg.
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