Qatar Airways expanded its freighter fleet yesterday with five new Airbus A330-200, as the Arabian Gulf carrier seeks to grow its cargo business.
"Cargo is a strategic part of our business," said Akbar Al Baker, the chief executive of Qatar Airways, at the Dubai Airshow.
“The first delivery of the freighters will be made to us next year. It will be two next year, and three soon after that,” he said.
Qatar Airways included in the order a further eight A330-200F options, taking the deal to about US$2.8 billion for a total of 13 aircraft.
Mr Al Baker also showed interest in expanding the size of the A350-1000 aircraft.
“I think the A350-1000 is a very potent aircraft. Actually we are very amazed at what it can do. If they extend the size, they stretch the aeroplane, Qatar Airways will be very interested to place additional orders for the 1000,” he said.
Mr Al Baker added that Qatar Airways was seriously contemplating converting some of its A350-900 orders to A350-1000.
Saj Ahmad, the chief analyst at StrategicAero Research, said that swapping to the bigger A350-1000 meant two things – Qatar Airways preferred the bigger airplane to help to cope with growing demand, and it might not be happy with the current performance of the baseline A350-900.
Mr Ahmad added that by the same metric, it was easy to understand why Qatar Airways committed to 50 Boeing 777X jets. "They simply don't want to be at the mercy of one jet maker."
Qatar Airways announced earlier that it was ordering 50 Boeing 777X aircraft, the new generation of the American aerospace maker’s 777 series, worth $19bn.
“For Qatar Airways the Boeing 777 is a flagship aircraft. It has been the backbone of our fleet. We operate the 777 on many of the popular routes Qatar Airways flies,” said Mr Al Baker.
“The technological design of the 777X is innovative and impressive. To touch on one aspect, the wing design is extraordinary.”
Boeing announced at the Dubai Airshow the launch of the 777X, with 459 orders from Emirates Airline, Qatar Airways, Eithad Airways and Lufthansa.
The Dubai Airshow, held for the first time this year at Dubai World Central, is estimated to receive 60,000 trade visitors and more than 1,000 exhibitors, underlining its rising profile. The show is challenging the supremacy of the other two big airshows of Farnborough, southern England, and Paris.
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F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The%20specs
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Most F1 world titles
7 — Michael Schumacher (1994, ’95, 2000, ’01 ’02, ’03, ’04)
7 — Lewis Hamilton (2008, ’14,’15, ’17, ’18, ’19, ’20)
5 — Juan Manuel Fangio (1951, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57)
4 — Alain Prost (1985, ’86, ’89, ’93)
4 — Sebastian Vettel (2010, ’11, ’12, ’13)
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 240hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 390Nm at 3,000rpm
Transmission: eight-speed auto
Price: from Dh122,745
On sale: now
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Company profile
Date started: December 24, 2018
Founders: Omer Gurel, chief executive and co-founder and Edebali Sener, co-founder and chief technology officer
Based: Dubai Media City
Number of employees: 42 (34 in Dubai and a tech team of eight in Ankara, Turkey)
Sector: ConsumerTech and FinTech
Cashflow: Almost $1 million a year
Funding: Series A funding of $2.5m with Series B plans for May 2020
