Qatar Airways ditches plan for A320s jets in favour of larger A321s

The airline has previously cited problems with the engines on the Airbus A320 and has now decided that it will not take the jets and will instead take delivery of A321s.

A Qatar Airways Airbus A380 touches down at Le Bourget airport in Paris. The carrier has confirmed it will not now take delivery of a planned order for A320 aircraft. Pascal Rossignol / Reuters

Qatar Airways has renegotiated an order with Airbus to take delivery only of larger A321 planes, not A320s as originally planned, the carrier’s chief executive said on Thursday.

The switch to the different aircraft comes after the airline refused to accept four A320neos last year over issues with their engines.

“We are going to take all A321s, there will be no more A320s,” the chief executive Akbar Al Baker said in Doha.

The original order with Airbus was for up to 80 planes.

An Airbus spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

The airline is also deciding whether to switch the engine order for the narrow-body jets from Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies, to CFM, a joint venture between General Electric and Safran of France.

“We are still negotiating,” Mr Al Baker said.

Qatar Airways has refused to accept A320neos powered by Pratt & Whitney engines because they require additional time to start under certain conditions.

The airline said in May it was cutting frequencies on more than a dozen routes from its Doha hub because of delays in acquiring new aircraft from Airbus.

Airbus successfully completed its first test flight for the A321neo in February 2016. However, in December it delayed delivery of its first A321neo to Hawaiian by three months.

Airbus’ delivery schedule saw delays through 2016, in part because of problems with engine and cabin parts suppliers.

Mr Al Baker has said he wants the A321neos from 2018.

Qatar Airways is also moving closer to taking a 49 per cent stake in Italy’s Meridiana, which it originally planned to finalise in October 2016.

“By the end of the month we should have put all the loose ends together,” Mr Al Baker said without providing further details.

He was speaking at an awards ceremony which crowned Doha’s Hamad International as a “five-star” airport, one of only six in the world.

Mr Al Baker added that the aim was to expand the airport’s capacity from the current 50 million annual passengers to 65 million by 2021, a year before the emirate hosts the Fifa football World Cup.

The expansion is being designed by Foster and Partners, said Mr Al Baker, renowned British architects who are also designing the World Cup final stadium.

The Qatar Airways boss also ruled out job cuts for 40,000 Qatar Airways staff.

* AFP

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