Qatar Airways not hopeful of getting A350s in ’16

amsterdam — Qatar Airways said it was not hopeful it would get all 12 A350 planes it is supposed to receive this year from Airbus after supply chain problems hit deliveries of the widebody jet.

“I don’t think we will get them. That’s why we ordered Boeing, which we will start getting next year, to fill the gap with the Airbus deliveries,” Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said, referring to an order placed earlier this month for up too 100 Boeing jets.

Qatar Airways has received four of the jets so far, Airbus figures show. The planemaker said on Wednesday it was “working towards” meeting its target of more than 50 A350 deliveries in 2016.

Al Baker also said he would continue to keep exercising cancellation clauses on deliveries of A320neo jets after engine problems. Engine maker Pratt & Whitney has started shipping engines with modifications, but Al Baker said he wanted to see the engines in operation for a year or two first.

“I have to be convinced. I want others to operate them and convince me it is ok. Putting a band aid on a big wound doesn’t mean it is fixed,” he said on the sidelines of the CAPA Global Summit in Amsterdam.

He also said he now expected a deal to buy a 49 per cent stake in Italian carrier Meridiana to be completed by the beginning of next year, saying certain conditions still had to be met.

Union officials have said the deal would see the loss of about 400 jobs and a 20 per cent wage cut compared with the pay stipulated in national collective contracts for the sector.

“We are not a charity organisation. We are not there to create jobs, people have to earn them,” Al Baker said. — Reuters