Al-Baker holds a model of an Airbus A380 during the delivery ceremony for Qatar Airways at Airbus headquarters in Hamburg in September last year
By Pratap John/Chief Business Reporter
Qatar Airways will be very much interested in “re-engined” Airbus A380s, Group CEO Akbar al-Baker has said.
“We are not only interested in re-engined A380s from future deliveries, but also the current airplanes. With today’s technology it is possible,” al-Baker said at an event in Doha recently.
“Once this does, this Airbus A380 programme will really take off because it will become a very efficient…very low seat mile cost airplane that will then be difficult for any other airplane in its class to beat it.”
Asked whether Qatar Airways will firm up its order for three more A380s, al-Baker said, “If it proves what it is supposed to do in our fleet…then we will firm up the three we still have remaining.”
Currently, the national carrier has four Airbus A380s in its fleet.
On the deployment of the new A350s, of which Qatar Airways was the launch customer globally, al-Baker said, “We will deploy them to New York and to secondary cities in Europe, where at the moment we are operating 787s, and, of course, to the subcontinent and to the Far East, because, this aircraft will eventually be replacing the Airbus A330s.”
Qatar Airways’ A350 XWB (extra wide body) will comprise a two-class configuration with some 36 business class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration, featuring 80” fully flat beds and 17” HD in-flight entertainment screens.
Economy class will comprise of some 247 seats, each 18-inches wide in a 3-3-3 configuration, with up to a 32-inch pitch.
The first commercial service will be deployed on the Doha-Frankfurt route on January 15.
On whether Qatar Airways plans to roll out a budget airline, al-Baker said, “We are not considering launching a budget carrier at the moment.”
Asked how Qatar Airways would ensure sustainable revenues in view of the rising competition, the airline CEO said, “We would not be buying airplanes if we thought that competition will impede our growth. As a matter of fact, we welcome competition, because it only makes us stronger. At the same time, in any business, it is the question of the survival of the fittest. We are world leaders in customer service, value for money and innovation.”
On the airline’s Africa plans, al-Baker said, “As and when we receive more wide-bodied airplanes, we will increase capacity to Africa. In general, Africa is an important market, which is also untapped in terms of aviation.”