By Alwyn Scott
NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) – Qatar Airways’ top executive
said the Middle-Eastern carrier wants to be a launch customer
for Boeing Co’s forthcoming 777X mini-jumbo jet, and that
the airline plans to open at least three new routes to the U.S.
in the next 12 to 18 months.
“We are very keen on the 777-8 and -9X aircraft and we are
receiving presentations from Boeing in this regard,” Akbar Al
Baker, CEO of the Doha-based airline, said in an interview with
Reuters on Wednesday.
“We would definitely want to be the launch customer,” he
said. “We hope to be one of the launch customers.”
But he said that since the aircraft has only been offered
recently, “we need to go through the paces.”
Boeing said on May 2 that it had begun offering the new jet,
setting up a ‘mini-jumbo’ war with European rival Airbus
and its competing airplane.
Baker said he has no concern about folding wings or other
novel design features of the proposed 777X. Boeing is
considering folding wings to allow more airplanes to fit into
constrained areas without airports undertaking expensive
modifications, he said.
On Qatar Airways’ interest in ordering additional Airbus
A330 planes, he said a possible deal is under discussion, but
not close to being signed.
“We have asked for a proposal from Airbus to offer us
between 10 and 15 A330s over a period of around 24 months to
mitigate the shortage of aircraft we have due to the delays in
787 deliveries and especially now with the grounding of those
airplanes recently,” he said.
Turning to the company’s strategy, he said it planned to
open new service to the U.S. cities of Boston, Detroit and
Atlanta, and possibly others, over the next 12 to 18 months.
Qatar Airways already flies to New York, Washington, D.C.,
Houston, and Chicago and plans to add service to Philadelphia
next year.
(Reporting by Alwyn Scott; Additional reporting by Tim Hepher
in Paris and Praveen Menon in Dubai; Editing by Sofina
Mirza-Reid)
