The 2015 Paris Air Show opened this week with Qatar Airways announcing a major order for more than a dozen new wide-body jets – and its CEO taking another shot at one of his US competitors.
The state-owned national carrier said in a statement that it had purchased 10 Boeing 777-8Xs and four 777 Freighters, an order valued at US$4.8 billion based on the current list prices for the planes.
The purchase of the 350-seat 777-8X planes are in addition to the order Qatar Airways previously placed for 50 of the slightly larger 400-seat 777-9X model.
The line of long-haul aircraft is currently under development, with the first passenger planes expected to be delivered in 2020.
The order was announced yesterday at the Paris Air Show, a biannual event where military and commercial planes are demonstrated for customers and manufacturers typically publicize major contracts.
‘We are creating even more jobs’
At this year’s event, the ongoing dispute between the three largest US airlines and the major Gulf carriers also took center stage.
For the past several months, American Airlines, Delta and United have stepped up claims that the governments of Qatar and the UAE unfairly subsidize their national carriers, a charge that the Gulf airlines deny.
During a press conference to announce the 777X orders, Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker highlighted how his purchase from American manufacturer Boeing was helping the US economy.
“I hope that the gentleman at Delta knows that we are creating even more jobs in the United States by ordering more airplanes,” he said in a reference to Delta CEO Richard Anderson, according to USA Today.
Job creation is one of the reasons a major US travel industry association recently appealed to the US government in support of the Gulf carriers.
Al Baker also for the time disclosed a figure for the airline’s annual revenues, telling the Wall Street Journal that Qatar Airways made a net profit of $103 million during its last financial year.
Additionally, the chief reportedly repeated his threat to pull out of the oneworld alliance over claims that fellow member American Airlines is hindering Qatar Airways’ operations by refusing to give it access to terminal gates at JFK airport in New York.
“We are only committed to oneworld provided the spirit in which we joined oneworld exists … If we find that we cannot have a settlement to this very contentious issue, yes we will exit from oneworld,” Reuters quoted Al Baker as saying.
New Bombardier, A380 planes dismissed
Separately, Qatar Airways ruled out several aircraft from joining its fleet in the near future.
Reuters reported that the Gulf airline was no longer interested in Bombardier’s CSeries narrow-body aircraft, which made their debut at the Paris Air Show. Al Baker said earlier this year that the airline “cannot wait indefinitely” for the Canadian-made plane, which has been beset by delays.
Elsewhere at the air show, Airbus said it was in talks about developing a new “stretch” version of its double-decker A380 with new engines and 50 extra seats.
The company said it is discussing the new model with Emirates – the world’s largest A380 customer, which has been pushing for a redesign – and at least half a dozen customers, the Wall Street Journal said.
However, Qatar Airways does not appear to be on that list – Al Baker told Bloomberg that the carrier, which lists four A380s in its fleet and has another nine on order, was not one of those prospective customers.
Military purchase
Qatar Airways wasn’t the only customer from the Gulf state purchasing planes in Paris.
Boeing said yesterday that the Qatar Armed Forces was doubling the size of its C-17 Globemaster III airlifter fleet with the purchase of four additional planes.
The military aircraft is primarily used to transport troops or heavy cargo, perform airdrop and medical evacuations as well as deliver humanitarian aid, Boeing said.
Thoughts?
really, do we even have the money now , LOL
Why’s that matter? Qatar Airways is a fully independent business that is in no way supported by the Qatari government so it shouldn’t matter what the Qatar government’s revenues are. Or that is what we are always told anyway… 😉
that’s why im asking ( DO WE EVEN HAVE THE MONEY )
Who is WE? Qatar Airways doesn’t get money from the Qatari people. He said so himself:
“We are operating a very successful model of an airline that is owned by the state but is absolutely independent in the way it runs our company, not as a government entity but as a commercial company.”
Are you accusing him of lying, and taking money from Qataris that should be spent on roads, schools, hospitals, and housing?
since it has the QATAR , & its Qatar’s only airline, so yeah we .
Well according to this article, Al Baker says that his airline is profitable and made $100 million. Do you think that the Emir just buys the planes and gives them to him?
Only we if you have a stake in it. As there is no taxpayer money in it the argument is strong that it isn’t we.
There is no shortage of money to build roads, schools, hospitals or housing.. All which are very well spent on .. But nice try pal… What’s with expats and their blood pressure raising … Don’t you want Qatar to indirectly contribute to job creations in France and he US through purchases of military and commercial flights
You can look forward to higher fares for Qatar based passengers, meanwhile travelers from other countries get cheaper tickets.
WINTER IS COMING
SUMMER IS COMING …. IT ALREADY DID!!! VALAR DOHAQATARIS!
Idk but it sounds like he’s a show-off.
Emirates has 150 of the 777-8x on order. You don’t see them bragging about it.
maybe in UAE NEWS they are, not in DN .LOL
Yes they very much are.. And anyone who puts in a multi billion dollar order wins bragging rights.. It’s also called publicity …
That’s because Emirates will soon join Star Alliance and Qatar airways will continue to drag behind in 3rd place for Gulf Carriers.
They don’t need to brag.
they just won the the worlds best airline award , yeah, so braging .they should . LOL
I wonder how much that cost? Good thing they are getting such huge subsidies.
someone is Jelly / haha
Not at all. I like flying Qatar Airways. With its massive subsidies and poor labor practices, it is able to pour tons of money into its services. iI’s business class and lounges are excellent, although the quality of its wine list has declined this past year.
prove to my point , most what you preach , you don’t practice , nice morals indeed
What exactly have I preached and not practiced? You are simply making false assumptions about my views and then try and hold me accountable to your perceptions.
From skytrax…gag.
Emirates has 61 A380 and QA has how many ?
Not really, i dont see him bragging at all
come on guys, Qatar airways belongs to the government, who do you think paid for the new airport.
Yeah and ?
1) Qatar Airways doesn’t not belong to the government. If they did, then these would be investments, not subsidies.
2) This point has nothing to do with 1.
Great stuff billions of dollars into France for military aircrafts and billions of dollars to the U.S. for commercial airplanes… That’s a whole lot of jobs.. Your welcome Europe and America …
Harrods, Barclay’s, Sainsbury’s, the Shard, Chelsea Barracks, One Hyde Park ….that’s a whole lot of available investment and return, you’re welcome Qatar…..
btw, why does Qatar need to spend so much on arms/military? Does it all go to anyone who is anti-Assad? Are you scared of KSA? Is it all a hollow and self-defeating patriarchal vanity project?
are you saying your pro the ASSAD ???? scared of KSA & WE GO WITH TO WAR in Yemen .are you for real ???
WRITING in OCCASIONAL CAPITALS makes YOU appear HYSTERICAL. No, of course I’m not pro-Assad, but bunging weapons and cash to Al Nusra Front among others doesn’t exactly help, does it?
you can say your imagination as your FACTS (opps i didnt again ) does not show any prove in real life . please do you even watch the news .
Qatar better develop their own weapons industry so that they support as many terror groups as they want without pesky questions being asked.
And in exchange, Qatar gets something its third-world economy cannot produce: airplanes.
Thanks America and France! Without you (and Japan) the most sophisticated form of transportation we’d have are camels and dhows. And without you (and the UK) our best defense would be a pile of rocks and slingshots. So thank you for agreeing to sell weapons to us!
which operate on oil & gas , thanks again QATAR . LOL
Which was extracted by……… which was discovered by……..which was created by……..wow and it’s only 8.20 in the morning… come on people. Ramadan tomorrow. Lets smoke a shisha peace pipe.
extracted by machines , if you one go all the way back , the were using algebra to do the math all that ,algebra is the name from the Arabian mathematician . i prefer KARAK plz
The word “algebra” derives from Arabic. The inventor was Zoroastrian Persian, but even then he was mostly a translator working with texts from Greece and India. You are hysterical.
with thanks to the Arab/Muslims would never seen the light. thanks you for noticing
Did you read my post? The only thing Arabic about Algebra is the root of the commonly used word. It was a Persian/Indian/Greek, and the concepts were already in circulation before the Arabic word was invented.
The root of sugar is also Arabic, but the crop itself has nothing to do with Arabia. Are you going to try and claim candy as an Arabic invention, too?
I’d give more credit to the Persians, but you are correct on the choice of gods.
If only we could just drink Karak (Easy on the ginger ) and smoke a double apple in peace and harmony :)))) Life is too short not too!
oh your a ginger lover , !! you lost me now . LOL
only in my Karak my friend :)) Ala Masala style.
Which relies entirely on Western companies like Exxon, Shell, Maersk, Total, and foreign technology and workers. ROFL.
The U.S., France (and most the West) do not operate on Qatar oil and gas. The gas and oil from Qatar go almost entirely to Asia. You’d know that if you were paying attention.
15% of oil comes from ME in US, gas your mistaken , a lot goes to the west . they have ports that been handling Qatar gas been built by some funding from Qatar , & again oil & gas goes to Asia that powers factories manufacture almost every daily need in the west world, Thanks Qatar . again .Haha , ill have cake with my KARAK now
Yes, but not not from Qatar. If someone paid for your education, they should get a refund.
Qatar is part of OPEC , buying from it means qatar gets its share . GOUUD
No, it doesn’t. And despite Qatar’s begging, KSA (which controls OPEC) is pumping out oil like never before. Thanks KSA.
haha, you are funny kid
What? No pithy remark of false fact?
when you deny the fact of Qatar being a member of OPEC & therefor getting its share from it. why do i argue with nonsense when i can laugh on it .LOL
Qatar is member of KSA’s club. It just isn’t benefiting from it in the way you describe.
I have to catch my flight. You have a fantastic day in your delusion.
still funny , hahah
That you find watching KSA pump out more oil than ever and shove their tiny neighbors towards recession is quite sad.
Oh wow too much lounge champagne … You do realize Qatar relies on gas exports more than oil and if oil was to dry up tomorrow Qatar would still move forward due to gas export revenues ..
U do also know that Kuwait, UAE, Saudi and Qatar are happy to see oil price continue its downward turn.. Not driving themselves in a recession but happily seeing Iran draw back its plans as it goes into a deficit … But nevermind politics isn’t for everyone
Looks like someone’s been drinking too much grape Kool-Aid. Yes, decimating the Qatar economy is all part of an elaborate plan.
Oil is a central part of Qatar’s revenue and will remain so until the 2020s, because the deals for the LNG extraction and production are still heavily favoring the descendants of the Seven Sisters with whom Qatar partnered. Regardless, natural gas prices are in the toilet, and unlikely to go up soon due the depressed price of oil and the recent developments in Australia and its trading partners in Asia. But I suppose that is all part of an elaborate plan too. ROFL.
What’s grape kool-aid ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_the_Kool-Aid
One way ticket ?
It’s last-minute Madrid to New York, so no. Would you even be allowed to enter these countries with just a one-way ticket?
Madrid yes very much the immigration officers there are on par with Egyptian immigration officers, or worest Italian.. Except in Spain they speak Spanish not Arabic and don’t take bribes …
In NY I wouldn’t off course, but why would I want a one way ticket to anywhere .. I’m Qatari my love.. Born and breed… I wouldn’t give it up for a lottery ticket let alone a one way ticket to anywhere in the world .. So rest assure when I travel my first class return ticket is always in hand 😉
I’m glad to see that you are thanking the Americans for their base to keep Qatar safe and the support that they give the ruling family to keep them in power. Thanks America!
And keep the Iranians and Saudis at bay.. Thank you America
You’re very wrong the vast majority of gas produced from Qatar goes to Europe then Asia … Biggest Qatari market is the UK … Which also has Qatar as its biggest exporter of gas.. Your welcome British households
For your country’s sake, I hope you are not in charge of anything whatsoever. And I hope you are not doing your investing. You’d better luck stuffing it in a mattress and then setting fire to it.
Britain doesn’t import much LNG because of its own reserves in the North Sea (cheers Scotland). There are deals to theoretically import some LNG, but that’s a pittance part of the UK energy sector and most if it is resold. Almost all of EU’s imported gas comes from Norway and then Russia, because it doesn’t have to be the pricier LNG. Qatar would LIKE to sell more to Europe, and things did look promising until all the bad press for both countries and those pesky Americans and their shale gas. Now it’s looking good for North America (thank you Louisiana and Candada)! Now there’s a conspiracy theory for you to develop.
The vast majority of Qatar’s LNG goes to Asia, but then now the Australians are moving in quickly (thank you mate) and will overtake Qatar as the leading exporter of gas by 2016.
Not a good time to be investing in LNG futures.
Dude dude dude for your own sake stop talking.. You’re humiliating yourself … Don’t talk about oil and gas with a guy whose worked in the oil industry over 20 yrs!!
What are you on ? Help yourself to google.. Type in Qatar gas and UK, the first ten hits are news articles warning of the UK’s over dependence on Qatar for gas imports ! The world’s largest LNG import terminal is located in the UK… Guess who owns it ?? Qatar.. Guess where over 30% of UK gas and almost 100% of LNG in the UK comes from ? Qatar.. Guess what the UK, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Poland have in common? They all import gas from Qatar… Why.. Because Norwegian gas is dwindling .. So is North Sea oil and gas.. And Russia uses gas for political gain… So many European countries are looking to diversify their gas sources and energy mix…
Like I said David.. Just cause your a white western expat doesn’t make you an expert.. and God do you for one second believe that bad press would ever get in the way of big business ? Oil business of all things ? R u smoking crack ? Dictatorships and genocide doesn’t deter oil business .. Bad press .. It’s like trying to explain something to a kid
Another swing and miss. What makes you think I’m white or even an expat in Qatar? What a racist.
You said: “You’re very wrong the vast majority of gas produced from Qatar goes to Europe then Asia … Biggest Qatari market is the UK”. Sorry, but no. Nice try though. Would love to see the article that says the UK domestic market is Qatar’s number one LNG market and that more goes to Europe than Asia. Perhaps the Gulf Times? LOL.
100 percent of UK’s LNG is from Qatar? Almost, but then LNG is a small fraction of the UK’s natural gas consumption.
Most importing countries do get gas from Qatar, but outside of Asia (and really we’re talking about post-nuclear Japan and Korea) it’s a small percentage. And even those countries will be getting theirs from Australia soon enough.
If you have spent that much time in oil and gas, I hope you have a diverse skill set for a new line of work. Hey guys, come over and build a platform for us. We’ll pay for it and you get 80 percent of the profits, and that won’t shift back to us until the price drops so low it’s no longer profitable to extract it. Genius.
oh god I’m wrong, i actually googled it. turns out qatar send more gas than i thought to the UK, to be precise a third! thank god I at least know how to google.. based on most articles UK households send something to the tune of about 8-10 billion dollars a year!! thats billions of dollars to Qatar for it’s gas, thank you brits for the money….
and by the way… you are right about foreign companies building the infrastructure in qatar.. and you are even right about the 80%, however it is the other way round… no foreign company working in the oil and gas in Qatar takes more than a 20-30% share of profits…. the majority 70 – 80% is retained by the govt and rest goes to the foreign shareholders… keep digging deeper… unfortunately you are the one with the wrong information which requires me to continue to correct you over and over again… embarrassing right.. in addition to the links below go to any oil and gas company in doha website to get a company profile and shareholding structure… or better yet visit shell or total or mobil’s websites for the info….
here, http://www.ukoog.org.uk/knowledge-base/gas-uses/where-does-the-uk-currently-get-its-gas-from from the united kingdom onshore oil and gas website.
reuters ..Britain’s natural gas imports from outside the North Sea will surpass domestic production by 2015 and add more than $11 billion to import costs as domestic supplies dwindle and Norway increasingly struggles to fill the gap, Reuters research shows.
Estimates show that Britain’s own gas supplies will fall from around 43 billion cubic metres (bcm) per year today to around 16 bcm in 2030 if they continue their average annual 5 percent decline since peaking in 2000, while demand is set to hold steady between 85 and 95 bcm.
Britain was a net exporter of gas until 2004, but a steady decline in output over the last few years has made it more reliant on imports, which have so far mostly come from Norway and, increasingly, Qatar…..
here more from the EIA since 2012, “The U.K. has not been dependent on LNG for long. The first modern-era LNG terminal in the U.K.—the Isle of Grain terminal—began commercial service in the summer of 2005. LNG’s role, however, has grown significantly since then. At times, LNG deliveries in the U.K. have provided up to 4 Bcf/d of total supply and accounted for 20% of the U.K.’s aggregate natural gas needs (see chart below). In the United States, only the New England region is as reliant on contributions from LNG to meet demand.
In 2011, total U.K. LNG imports exceeded 900 Bcf, with Qatar accounting for over 80% of U.K.’s LNG imports that year”
don’t forget.. worlds largest LNG import port is located in the UK and owned by Qatar…
It’s a partnership in which various Qatar holdings have a 67percent stake, a very different profit-sharing agreement, and a very complex agreement in terms of control and management (because it’s on British soil). To an educated person with any knowledge of finance, this translates into a joint venture, not ownership.
But your mistaken, Qatar does own 100% of the asset itself, however a JV between both Qatari and foreign oil companies manage and operate the facility .. And the supplying company which produces the gas and supplies into the terminal is one that is a JV between different companies
South Hook is a joint venture in which Exxon one 1/3. If QP paid for the entire asset, then it’s getting poor deal.
And yet none of this (highly selective) “information” proves your original statement that started the argument:
“You’re very wrong the vast majority of gas produced from Qatar goes to Europe then Asia … Biggest Qatari market is the UK”.
No matter how hard you try, it’s just still not true. You really need to read your own “evidence”, because it isn’t supporting your original claim. I hope you don’t do much work with with maths. A-qtr: A majority of 20 percent equals an overall majority. ROFL.
Aha good point, let me restate it than .. The single larger market for Qatari gas is the UK, the majority of Qatar has is delivered to Europe… Better ?
Nope. The UK is not the single largest market for Qatar’s LNG. It is probably the largest in Europe, but not globally.
South Hook only has the ability to process 15.6 million tons of LNG per year (and it’s not entirely for domestic consumption); Qatar exports in excess of 80 million plus. Although Japan (which imports 37 percent of world exports) and India have both announced they would drastically reduce imports of Qatar LNG, Japan is still largest single national market.
This is a decent summary of the future:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-07/qatar-lng-exports-shrink-from-record-as-australia-u-s-expand
Canada probably should have gotten more play in the article, but generally its decent summary, and it explains why there will never a be a gas equivalent of OPEC.
David canada has lots LNG , oil , nuke fuel , you guys get the family rate too fill you boots . Cheers
And donkeys don’t forget donkeys … And pile of rocks and slingshots is more of a West Bank thing than Qatar… Don’t forget to thank watarbfor hiring unemployed mediocre Europeans whose best creditionals are being white and named John and David
More racism.
I don’t work for Qatari company, nor would I.
But I do find it funny that you put down expats so much for what you perceive are poor qualifications. Let’s say you are right (although your not), and these under qualified guys come over and get lavish salaries for doing nothing. Who’s the real idiot: the guy smart enough to be overpaid or the person who agreed to fund him? And if these companies have to rely on such people, what does that say about the available local talent?
Every time you preach that mantra, you’re only putting down your own country and people. Better to highlight the good things they do and how getting them to train locals is an investment in Qatar’s future and independence.