KC Sim 2 Report post Posted March 13, 2009 If there is an airline out there itching to lay its hands on a small fleet of very new A340-600s at a decent price but with rather quick delivery . . . here's the chance. Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said : "Qatar Airways is a robust airline, with a clear strategy, prepared for any crisis that may happen." It is taking delivery of 12 777s this year and will launch flights from Doha to both Sydney and Melbourne in November. Two 777-200LRs and one -300ER have arrived in the past month, he said, adding that he is unhappy with the performance of QR's four A340-600s. "If I could, I would throw them away. These planes are not efficient at all." Gosh, this must surely send the Airbus salespeople and PR people scrambling for cover!!! Did QR not notice that Emirates was deferring its A346s, and CX was also offloading theirs, Air France never bought any inspite of their strong relations with Airbus products . . . but like it or not, they have one beautiful one in Formula One livery! Maybe someone should broker the deal between Qatar Airways and Hainan Airlines. KC Sim Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Isaac 0 Report post Posted March 13, 2009 (edited) Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said : "Qatar Airways is a robust airline, with a clear strategy, prepared for any crisis that may happen." It is taking delivery of 12 777s this year and will launch flights from Doha to both Sydney and Melbourne in November. Two 777-200LRs and one -300ER have arrived in the past month, he said, adding that he is unhappy with the performance of QR's four A340-600s. "If I could, I would throw them away. These planes are not efficient at all." Gosh, this must surely send the Airbus salespeople and PR people scrambling for cover!!! Did QR not notice that Emirates was deferring its A346s, and CX was also offloading theirs, Air France never bought any inspite of their strong relations with Airbus products . . . but like it or not, they have one beautiful one in Formula One livery! May be they feel they should have whatever LH got because they trust LH business sense ? And by the way, if i'm not mistaken the 346 QR currently have all are the "IGW" version one right ? What a shame. I really like the 346, though i have never boarded one yet. Maybe someone should broker the deal between Qatar Airways and Hainan Airlines. And earn some good comission. The commission should be enough to buy up to 10 units of the soon to be launch Ritz-Carlton Residence by Berjaya Group in Jalan Sultan Ismail (opposite Renaissance Hotel, supposed to be Berjaya Central Park but the project was replaced by Ritz-Carlton Residence). The asking price is RM2000/psf by the way. Edited March 13, 2009 by Isaac Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pieter C. 5 Report post Posted March 13, 2009 His remarks surprise me a bit, as he also said the following: "Qatar Airways bucks trend with major expansion plans for 2009 Qatar Airways aims to take advantage of the current turmoil afflicting the industry by continuing with its aggressive growth plans by redeploying capacity and entering new markets. This will include an assault on the Australian market using its new Boeing 777-200ER fleet and an efficiency drive. The Qatari flag carrier’s chief executive Akbar Al Baker says that while "growth is slightly affected" the airline is "fairing better than other airlines" in the current difficult trading conditions. "On average our passenger loads over the last three months have been averaging just under 4% below the target set before the recession began," he says. "But before August we were positive against budget so the excess has more or less covered the downturn suffered in the last three months for our financial year ending 30 March." Al Baker says that "every economic downturn has some positive sides" and Qatar Airways is "very clever at shifting capacity and having the courage to source new markets". © Qatar Airways The airline, which operates a fleet of 68 Airbus and Boeing aircraft and has a further 140 on firm order, will continue with its capacity growth plan which will see around one aircraft a month being added to its fleet. "We are not going to slow down. We are re-deploying our capacity, adding new destinations and increasing frequencies to existing points," says Al Baker. Qatar Airways will begin serving its third US destination, Houston, this month, with 777-200LRs and will use the 259-seat, ultra-long-haul twinjets for direct flights to Sydney and Melbourne from October, subject to Australian government approval. The airline’s first two 777-200LRs were delivered in February, and four more will arrive this year. This year the airline will also add two more Indian points – Amritsar and Goa, as well as two undisclosed European cities, taking its total destination count to 88. It will also increase frequencies to eight destinations this year across its global network. Five from March: Geneva, Lagos, Manila, Muscat and Mashad (Iran), one from June: Kuala Lumpur, and two from October: Algiers and Tunis. Qatar Airways has long-held ambitions to serve Australia and Al Baker says that there is already a bilateral in place between the two countries, but he still needs final approval from Australian government to launch flights. The airline is responding to the current "downward pressure on fares by making our expenditure more efficient", he says. This means that the airline is implementing a "cost-cutting drive that will not impact our product, and putting efficiency systems in place to improve employee productivity". One casualty will be the first class lounge in the airline’s A340-600s. "The lounge is not being used efficiently, so we’ll reconfigure the cabin and gain 44 economy seats," says Al Baker. This will see the overall seat count increase by around 16% to 310." so......the 346's will not be sold, but will only be reconfigured and generating (hopefully) more income for QR this way... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Waiping 12 Report post Posted March 14, 2009 I feel that this sounded like when someone filthy rich bought an expensive ride, but blame the product because of a bad decision they made themselves! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pieter C. 5 Report post Posted March 18, 2009 Believe, QR purchased the 346 for their upcoming Down-Under operations. Unfortunately, it took them quite long (3-4 years), before actually starting these operations. In the meantime, the 77L has become a more economical longhauler, which should not make the 346 a 'bad buy', or dumpable...Other airlines are quite happy with them... Will try the ultra-longhaul DOH-IAH v.v. stretch (about 17-18 hours blocktime) in May, to sample the 77L's abilities... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eugene Koh 4 Report post Posted March 19, 2009 Maybe Air Asia X can buy it opff cheap cheap... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
klampertz 0 Report post Posted March 19, 2009 Maybe Air Asia X can buy it opff cheap cheap... buy it and stuff 400++ people in it Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
