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LONDON, June 17 (Reuters) - Qatar Airways will not take any
new planes ordered from Boeing or Airbus in 2020
or 2021, chief executive Akbar al-Baker said on Wednesday,
adding there would be a knock-on effect to future deliveries due
to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Qatar Airways has ordered tens of billions of dollars of
aircraft from the world's two biggest planemakers. But after a
plunge in demand for air travel, it says it has no room for new
aircraft and will instead shrink its fleet of around 200 jets.
"Quite a lot of (deliveries) will be deferred. We have
already notified both Boeing and Airbus that we will not be
taking any aeroplanes this year or next year," al-Baker said in
an interview on Britain's Sky News.
"All the other aircraft that we have on order that were
supposed to be delivered to us within the next two or three
years, will now be pushed back to as long as nearly eight to 10
years."
Al-Baker repeated a warning to the planemakers that a
refusal to comply with the airline's request could jeopardise
future business between them.
"If they don't oblige to our requirements, (then) we will
have to review our long term business relationships with them,"
he said, adding the airline no longer needed the 30 firm orders
for Boeing's 737 MAX it had placed.
"We have already informed Boeing that we will have to
replace them with some other type of aeroplanes ... we will not
require anymore of the 737 MAXs."
Al-Baker also said Qatar Airways would continue to support
British Airways owner IAG after increasing its stake in
the airlines group in February.
"It is a strategic investment. We will continue to be an
investor in IAG," he said. "If it is necessary, yes, we will
inject equity into IAG."
(Reporting by Alistair Smout in London and Alexander Cornwell
in Dubai, editing by Louise Heavens and Mark Potter)
