Qatar Airways is in talks with plane makers Airbus and Boeing for a major wide-body order, its chief executive said on Monday. CEO Badr Mohammed Al Meer told reporters a report that the airline was in talks with Airbus to order A350 and Boeing 777X wide-body jets was largely correct. Bloomberg News reported on Sunday that the airline was in discussions to buy some 200 aircraft split between Airbus and Boeing.
The Middle East carrier is looking at ordering about 200 jets, looking at a mix of Airbus A350s and Boeing 777X models, with a decision possible as soon as the Farnborough Air Show in Britain late next month, the report said. Airbus said it is constantly in talks with customers about fleet needs but did not disclose any details, while Boeing deferred to Qatar Airways when asked for a comment. Qatar Airways declined to respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The head of Dubai airline Emirates urged Boeing to pick an engineering and business heavyweight to lead a deep overhaul of the U.S. aerospace giant and said the task of ending the planemaker's recent confidence crisis "must get done". Emirates is the world's largest buyer of long-haul jets to feed its Gulf hub. Boeing is looking for a new CEO after announcing that Dave Calhoun would step down by the end of the year following back-to-back crises exacerbated by the blowout of a loose door plug on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 jet in January.