2009-Jun-15 - Qatar Airways Increases Its Order for Airbus Jetliners

LE BOURGET, FRANCE — In one of the few orders for civilian aircraft expected at the Paris Air Show this week, Qatar Airways announced Monday that it would buy 24 of Airbus’s A320 family of planes in a deal worth $1.9 billion.

In contrast to the torrent of orders last year at the Farnborough International Air Show outside London, few commercial aircraft manufacturers at the Paris show this year expect to pocket new orders. Airlines, like many businesses worldwide, have had their capital dry up, while the recession has sapped demand for air travel.

Bucking the industry trend, Qatar Airways said that it was increasing its initial order for four of the A320 family of aircraft that it penciled in at Farnborough in July. Montreal-based Bombardier said it had also garnered an order.

Qatar Airway’s is buying a mix of A320s and A321s, which will join its existing fleet of 19 of the narrow-bodied aircraft. Qatar also has 29 Airbus A330s in its fleet and four A340s.

The first aircraft will be delivered this year — good news for Airbus, since the bulk of payments are made when aircraft are delivered. Both Airbus and its rival, Boeing, can take some comfort from their record backlog of orders.

“To preserve and deliver the backlog we have — this is a more critical task than whether we beat Airbus week by week on orders and bookings,” said Boeing’s chief for commercial aviation, Scott Carson.

Akbar al-Bakar, the chief executive of Qatar Airways, said that he had wanted to take delivery of the new A320 family planes earlier but that Airbus was not able to accommodate him. Like Boeing, the European aircraft manufacturer has been aggressively managing its order book, with airlines that want early delivery usual able to leapfrog operators that want to defer.

Qatar, also a customer for Airbus’s A380 superjumbo jet and the biggest buyer of forthcoming A350 extra-wide-bodied jet, will deploy the aircraft ordered Monday in a two-class configuration and fly them on regional, eastern European and southwest Asian routes, the carrier said.

The A320 is Airbus’s best-selling family of aircraft and a workhorse of global aviation. Almost 3,900 have been delivered to more than 300 airlines and aircraft operators around the world, according to Airbus figures.

Meanwhile, Bombardier said Sunday that the Spanish regional carrier Air Nostrum had ordered 15 of its CRJ1000 NextGen jets, in a deal worth $793 million. Along with new orders and confirmation of existing ones, the Valencia-based carrier has a total of 35 of the aircraft on order, in deals worth $1.75 billion.

Qatar Airways Increases Its Order for Airbus Jetliners