DUBAI, 20 November 2004 — Qatar Airways is in negotiations with US aerospace giant Boeing to buy its new 7E7 long-haul airliner, a Boeing official was quoted as saying yesterday.
“We are in close negotiations with Qatar Airways, who are very interested in the 7E7 program,” John Feren, vice president for 7E7 sales, told the English-language Gulf News. Clinching a deal with Qatar’s flag-carrier would be a first for Boeing as European manufacturer Airbus aircraft make up the Gulf airline’s entire fleet.
The 250-passenger 7E7 Dreamliner, due to enter service in 2008, is in direct competition with Airbus’s double-decker A380, which Qatar Airways has pre-ordered for delivery in 2009.
A Qatar Airways spokeswoman in Doha told AFP last week that the airline is “interested in having this long-haul aircraft (7E7) in our fleet. But we haven’t talked about any number of aircraft yet”.
“The negotiations are in the early stage and we hope to complete them next summer. It’s too early to decide how many aircraft we want to buy,” the spokeswoman said.
“Qatar Airways is planning to open up new destinations very soon and it’s for this reason we are thinking about diversifying our fleet,” she added.
She said Qatar Airways is planning to operate to Washington next year, “and we think that the (7E7) is appropriate for this” long-haul route.
Boeing has so far secured 52 firm orders for the 7E7 Dreamliner, Feren said, adding that it “is well on track to secure” the remaining 148 orders “in the next six weeks’ time” in order to meet order targets.
Qatar’s national carrier will serve 50 destinations by the end of the year and plans to extend that to 60 within two years. Qatar Airways lays claim to be one of the fastest-growing airlines in the world, operating a fleet of 26 aircraft from its Doha hub, with an additional 3 Airbus aircraft on order. Founded in 1994 Qatar Airways is owned equally by Qatar’s government and private investors.