Qatar plans $16-billion order for 80 Airbus A350s
QATAR Airways plans to sign a firm order for 80 Airbus A350 XWB long-range planes worth $16 billion.
By Agencies |
TOULOUSE: QATAR Airways plans to sign a firm order for 80 Airbus A350 XWB long-range planes worth $16 billion, dropping a threat to buy Dreamliners after the European planemaker came up with a wider body and new wing for its jet. “We have got what we want from them,” Akbar al-Baker, chief executive of the state-owned, Persian Gulf airline, said on Tuesday in Ho Chi Minh City. He said he expects to sign a firm order at the Paris Air Show in June and a preliminary agreement in weeks.
Al-Baker threatened to buy Boeing’s rival 787 Dreamliner on February 27 unless Airbus came up with a detailed redesign of the A350 by June. Qatar was the first or so-called “launch” customer for the plane at the Paris show in 2005. Airbus has reworked the aircraft several times as airlines chose Boeing’s new plane.
“It’s clearly a large foundation stone in the process of constructing an order backlog for the A350,” said Will Mackie, an analyst at Mainfirst AG in London, who has a “buy” rating on the shares of Airbus parent European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. Chicago-based Boeing already has a backlog of 787 orders for 490 planes from 38 customers. Airbus so far has orders for about 100 of the A350s and most of those have to be confirmed because of the frequent redesigns of the plane. The 787 may help Boeing regain the lead in commercial-jet building from Airbus as soon as 2008.
The Dreamliner, which is scheduled to enter service next year, will be about 50% built from composite materials, which are lighter than the traditional aluminum and make the plane more fuel-efficient. Airbus’s A350 XWB is now to be 50% built from composite materials as well, though design delays mean it won’t enter service until 2013.
Al-Baker threatened to buy Boeing’s rival 787 Dreamliner on February 27 unless Airbus came up with a detailed redesign of the A350 by June. Qatar was the first or so-called “launch” customer for the plane at the Paris show in 2005. Airbus has reworked the aircraft several times as airlines chose Boeing’s new plane.
“It’s clearly a large foundation stone in the process of constructing an order backlog for the A350,” said Will Mackie, an analyst at Mainfirst AG in London, who has a “buy” rating on the shares of Airbus parent European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. Chicago-based Boeing already has a backlog of 787 orders for 490 planes from 38 customers. Airbus so far has orders for about 100 of the A350s and most of those have to be confirmed because of the frequent redesigns of the plane. The 787 may help Boeing regain the lead in commercial-jet building from Airbus as soon as 2008.
The Dreamliner, which is scheduled to enter service next year, will be about 50% built from composite materials, which are lighter than the traditional aluminum and make the plane more fuel-efficient. Airbus’s A350 XWB is now to be 50% built from composite materials as well, though design delays mean it won’t enter service until 2013.
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