QATAR Airways is looking at connecting some 115 destinations worldwide by 2011, airline chief executive officer, Akbar al-Baker has said.
“We will be having between 115 and 120 aircraft in our fleet by that time. It will obviously be a mix of Airbus and Boeing aircraft,” al-Baker told Gulf Times last night.
Qatar Airways is a major customer of Airbus, he said.
“As of today, 95.5% of our fleet is Airbus. We have over 100 Airbus aircraft of various types to be delivered over the next few years,” al-Baker said.
Gulf Times data indicate that Qatar Airways had placed orders for some 80Airbus A350s, which are medium to long-range aircraft, five twin deck super jumbos (A380s) and six A321s.
The fleet on order also comprises some 28 Boeing 777s including freighters and options.
Al-Baker said the delay in Boeing’s Dreamliner project would not have any noticeable impact on the national carrier.
“It will not impact us because we don’t rely on just one aircraft manufacturer. The only thing is that we will have to delay retirement of some of our aircraft. Even when we retire our aircraft, they will still be very young,” the Qatar Airways chief executive officer said.
In an earlier interview with Gulf Times, al-Baker said, “We are looking at January 2009 for the first delivery of our Boeing 777LRs. As per our original schedule we should have received five aircraft, including the Boeing 777LR, before December. But our deliveries have been badly affected because of the strike in Boeing.”
Al-Baker had also said the specific reason for delaying the launch of Qatar Airways’ Houston service was because of non-delivery of the Boeing 777LRs.
“We did not delay Houston because of any downturn in the world economy. We had to reschedule the launch date to March 30 next year because we did not get delivery of our Boeing 777LRs as scheduled,” he had said.
Qatar Airways operates a young and modern fleet of 64 Boeing and Airbus aircraft serving 83 cities across Europe, Middle East, Africa, South Asia, Far East and North America.
GT
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