Posted on 09/24/2006 10:09:49 AM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
Under-fire aircraft manufacturer Airbus has been dealt another blow after Qatar Airways confirmed plans to take delivery of a further 20 Boeing 777s. The airline will run 40 Boeings in total, after the announcement last week of a firm order for 20 777s. The airline’s fleet was previously exclusively provided by Airbus.
“We placed a firm order for the first 20, but we are planning to buy 40 all together,” Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker revealed to Arabian Business - scotching concerns that the US$4.9bn deal had been aborted, after Boeing removed a press release for the order from its website earlier this month. The fears had been exacerbated after the airline cancelled a press conference to announce the deal, at last month’s Farnborough Air show in the UK.
“We cancelled the press event as negotiations for the deal had not been concluded at this point, and we do not like to make announcements until every detail of the transaction is fully worked out,” Al Baker continued. “Now we can confirm the order of the [initial 20] Boeing 777s, with the first one being delivered in November 2007 and the completion of the order scheduled for 2010.”
Al Baker denied claims that the introduction of Boeing to the formerly purely Airbus fleet was politically motivated. He stressed that the move was entirely based on economical considerations.
“We are among the fastest growing airlines worldwide, with a growth rate of 35%. To launch some Boeing planes is a financial necessity for our carrier, since the American plane has its advantages, and Airbus has others,” he explained. “We were a solely Boeing fleet until 1997, after that we converted to Airbus and now we are keen to operate Boeings again. We have also ordered a large number of Airbus A350s, and we certainly need both models to serve our large expansion plans.”
The move to introduce Boeings into the Qatar Airways fleet is reflective of a general industry trend towards the US-manufactured planes. In the first half of 2006, Airbus sold 117 mainly single-aisle aircraft, as opposed to 276 in the same period of the previous year. Rival Boeing has listed 480 orders in the same period this year.
Qatar Airways announced, at the Paris Air Show in June last year, plans to buy up to 80 new aircraft - 60 A350s and 20 Boeing 777s - in an order worth over US$15bn. The airline plans to more than double its fleet size from 48 planes today, to 110 in 2015.
Qatar Airlines is Airbus’ biggest customer in the Middle East. The carrier also has an order for two of the troubled ‘superjumbo’ A380s – the world’s largest commercial plane with a passenger capacity of 555 - which has been experiencing severe technical problems and hence unforseen delivery delays. That order is worth US$1.2 billion, with the planes scheduled for delivery in 2009.
“Since the jumbos are to be delivered three years from now we do not know yet how much they will be delayed, or if they will be late at all,” said Al Baker, who discounted the prospect of legal action against the manufacturer.
“We will seek an amicable solution with the manufacturer," he said. “Also I do not believe that Airbus can afford to have legal actions taken against them.”
In June Airbus announced fresh delays to the deliveries of the A380, with parent company EADS saying that this could cut earnings between 2007 and 2010. John Leahy, Airbus CEO, told Reuters: “We had an industrial delay. It will shift the programme to the right by six to seven months.”
He added that the company would still be able to certify the plane and deliver its first order to Singapore Airlines by the end of 2006, but deliveries in 2007 would be cut to nine from an original target of 25. Airbus said in a statement that the latest setback to the delivery was due to wiring problems.
Besides the announcement of the delays of the A380s, Airbus has been shattered by a management shake-up and a threat of legal actions against EADS by a group of shareholders that have been upset over its recent share plunge.
DOOMED !!!
Ouch! Thats gonna leave a mark!
In other words, Boeing is delivering airplanes while Airbus is delivering excuses.
Euro crapweasels little airplane company is in a death spiral?
BA in the green tomorrow.
Still waiting for all the, "If we nix the port deal Boeing and others who rely on foreign trade will suffer greatly", crowd to show up. Boeing, and companies like them, must really stick in their craws. Amazing what American ingenuity can do.
Excellent!
just let all the muzzies fly on airbusted.....it will be a faster way to their virgins if/when they all go down together!!!!
Could be worse, one could be flying on an old soviet airliner.
There. Fixed it for him...
Somewhere over there in Euro-land - you know there are a lot of hard working people at Airbus - but what a cluster-muck that operation really is.
Has there ever been a bigger endorsement of free market businesses than Airbus?
What a mess
Thank goodness by the way.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.