Qatar Airways Walks Away from Airbus A320neo Deal Over Delays -- Update
03 Junio 2016 - 7:24AM
Noticias Dow Jones
By Robert Wall
DUBLIN--Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said the
airline had walked away from its first AirbusGroup SE A320neo
aircraft order because of delivery delays.
Qatar Airways had ordered 50 A320noe family planes, making it
the launch customer of the model. The airline was due to receive
the first plane last year.
However Airbus and the plane's engine maker, United Technologies
Corp. (UTX), have struggled to get the A320neo up to the
contractually required performance standard, resulting in
considerable delays.
Mr. Al Baker said the airline should have five A320neos in
service by now under the original agreement. "It is making a huge
impact on my bottom line," the CEO said. "We are quite frankly
screaming."
Mr. Al Baker also suggested Qatar Airways could walk away from
more A320neo orders once contractual walkaway clauses are
triggered.
Fabrice Brégier, the head of Airbus's planemaking unit, said "we
are late compared to what we had promised, especially for launch
customers. I fully understand why these customers are not
satisfied," he said, though he declined to discuss contractual
issues.
Airbus has said it is working on improvements to the A320neo to
address concerns about engine performance. A software upgrade to
deal with spurious fault warnings has already been put in place,
the plane maker said.
"This is not about compensation," Mr. Al Baker said, adding that
the relationship with Airbus is strained at the operational
level.
He expressed concern about Airbus's promises to get fixes in
place, noting that deadlines have been missed and saying some
issues could drag into next year. "We need a really, really firm
answer," he added.
Qatar Airways said it would consider buying A320neo jets with
the alternative engine made by a joint venture of General Electric
Co. and France's Safran SA.
A further fallback is buying the current versions of the Boeing
Co. 737s instead and then upgrading to the 737 Max, the direct
competitor to the A320neo, Mr. Al Baker said.
Mr. Al Baker also bemoaned Airbus delays with its A350
long-range jet. Three of the airlines' planes have been delayed
since February, he said.
He noted that he had met with Mr. Brégier to resolve issues.
Delivery of the first of the delayed planes is "imminent," with 10
of the planes due to be delivered to Qatar Airways this year.
Mr. Brégier said Airbus would aim to meet its delivering
commitment, but acknowledged "it will be challenging."
Rival Boeing is delivering planes early, sometimes before the
airlines need them, Mr. Al Baker said.
Mr. Al Baker also said he would not be seeking a seat on the
board of International Consolidated Airlines Group SA.
Qatar Airways recently boosted its stake in IAG to just above
15%, having already been the largest shareholder in the British
Airways parent. However Mr. Al Baker says he has confidence in the
current board, so sees no need to seek a board seat. He also
revealed he doesn't plan to increase the stake in IAG for now.
Qatar Airways is also in talks to take a stake in Italy's
Meridiana airline, with a deadline to conclude talks by month's
end. Mr. Al Baker said an agreement on reforming the airline hasn't
been reached.
Negotiations could be extended by one or two months, but he
expressed concern that the current owners might not increase their
investment in Meridiana after the end of this month.
If talks fail, about 4,000 jobs at the carrier would be at risk,
Mr. Al Baker said.
Qatar Airways' plans to take a stake in Royal Air Maroc have
been delayed as the airline has focused on completing the deal with
Meridiana.
Write to Robert Wall at robert.wall@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 03, 2016 08:09 ET (12:09 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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