Qatar’s national carrier, Qatar Airway, Wednesday it will not acquire new aircrafts this and next and has informed Airbus and Boeing to defer the delivery as result of fallout from covid-19, reports say.
The airline’s Chief Executive Akbar al-Baker in an interview of Sky News said he has informed the two global leading aircraft makers.
“Quite a lot of (deliveries) will be deferred. We have already notified both Boeing and Airbus that we will not be taking any aeroplanes this year or next year,” al-Baker said.
“All the other aircraft that we have on order that was supposed to be delivered to us within the next two or three years, will now be pushed back to as long as nearly eight to 10 years.”
Qatar Airways has commissioned dozens of the crafts from the two giants. The currently operates 242 aircrafts and is planning to shrink the size to 200.
The airline has felt the brunt of the covid-19 fallout. Airlines in the Middle East and North African region according to International Air Transport Association (IATA) face bankruptcy as result of the pandemic as their small cash reserves run dry in the next few months. The region’s airlines according to the trade organization, could lose US$6 billion of passenger revenue compared to 2019.
Baker also warned Airbus and Boeing that the airline will review business relationship with the two giants if they don’t comply with Qatar’s decision.
“If they don’t oblige to our requirements, (then) we will have to review our long term business relationships with them,” he said, adding the airline no longer needed the 30 firm orders for Boeing’s 737 MAX it had placed.
“We have already informed Boeing that we will have to replace them with some other type of aeroplanes … we will not require any more of the 737 MAXs.”
Qatar airways defers 2020, 2021 orders for aircraft owing to covid-19 adverse impact
