Dubai 2011: Qatar's CEO Al Baker turns up the heat

Above: Qatar Airways' CEO Akbar Al Baker.

The Doha-based carrier’s cargo fleet currently comprises six aircraft – three Boeing 777s and three Airbus A300s. With existing orders and this latest announcement, Qatar’s cargo fleet will rise to 11 freighters over the next four years, eight of which will be 777s.

Commenting on the problems encountered a couple of years ago with Boeing over deliveries, Al Baker said that “friends always have ups and downs but it doesn’t mean the end of the friendship, although there are still some unresolved problems”.

Asked why yesterday’s scheduled announcement of orders from Airbus – believed to be for A320neos – had been postponed, Al Baker said: “We have reached an impasse with them because, apparently, Airbus is still learning how to make aeroplanes. And these problems are not always about price but, in this case, about the contract.”

Al-Baker said that unless the current disagreements with Airbus were resolved, he would dispose of the A330s and buy converted B767 freighters instead “because Airbus is unable to make up its mind” over their current negotiations.

Referring to recently-announced delays from Toulouse to the A350XWBs EIS, for which Al-Baker signed a MoU at this year’s Paris Air Show to buy 80 aircraft, he said that while he “understood and accepted an insignificant delay of six months, anything further would cause difficulties and we simply cannot accept any further delays”.

Said Al Baker: “We are still interested in both the A350XWB and the A320neo but I’m pessimistic about whether we’ll be able to announce anything before the end of the airshow.”

See later story about order eventually placed with Airbus in the afternoon.