This shouldn’t be a shock to anyone, but Qatar Airways has quietly canceled its Boeing 737 MAX 10 order.
Continue reading: No Surprise: Qatar Airways Cancels Boeing 737 MAX 10 Order
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To my simple mind this would appear to be the logical conclusion to the whole Max debacle.
How anyone could be surprised by this decision is beyond my comprehension.
A positive decision. No one wants to fly those death traps, and it is beneath the quality of them as well as a pointless fleet inconsistency. A320 is a superior aircraft by a very long mile.
many airlines whose countries want to have positive relations with the US have to have a split Airbus-Boeing fleet.
Boeing has long done a better job competitively with widebodies and the 777X will be the largest airplane available - when it is delivered - which appeals to the Middle East airlines. The A321NEO family is simply more capable.
Was there a technical resolution to the dispute over the A350 fuselage deterioration? Was it ever resolved? Was it allowed to fade away quietly? Was it merely His Excellency AAB being AAB?
I personally would have thought that QR would convert these to Max 8s or even Max 7s
Let's see if they live to regret this order cancellation (Probably not lol)
I implore Trump to place sanctions on Qatar immediately! Whoever embarasses the United states this way must be harshly dealt with and humiliated on the world stage. How dare they not buy superior engineering and instead settle for inferior european products made by people who can't even speak English!
No me hablo francisco, me only hablo Americano ( this means I don't speak French, only English in French)
What is wrong with you? You are speaking Englihs, the superor American language, and you can't even defend our nation's superior engineering? Shame on you for not flying the best aircraft in the world!
What the fluff ChatGPTim.
Prepare to cut ties with Spain and Italy?
Iberia?
ITA?
Are these going to be expelled by Donald?
JetBlue!!!!!!!!
Spirit!!!!!!
Frontier!!!!!!!!
seriously. give it a rest.
Yes, Boeing has long been the dominant player in the widebody aircraft market and Airbus has overtaken Boeing in the narrowbody market by a substantial margin.
The A330 family is the second most popular widebody behind the B777 family but Boeing has multiple widebody families with 1000+ deliveries.
Airbus not only built a more capable A320 that has been more successful as a stretch than the B737 family and that is why Airbus has won the narrowbody market, even before they took over the C Series as the A220 family.
and let's see where the tariffs all go but Airbus has said they will absorb tariffs on Airbus aircraft built in Mobile but not on European built aircraft - which includes the XLR. Since the 320XLR is not currently built in MOB, it is AA and UA that are most exposed to it since most of the rest of the US airlines can take A320NEO family aircraft that are built in MOB.
and DL has succeeded at avoided Airbus widebodies by not bringing them to the US if tariffs are involved. I would suspect that the Donald's decision to push back tariffs against Europe for 90 days might lead to a rush of paperwork by DL to "import" the bunch of 330NEOs and 350s that DL has received from Airbus so far this year with more to follow in the next few weeks.
Certainly doesn't hurt my feelings. I feel very nervous flying on Maxes. I have no choice at times but have never been comfortable after the coverups from the ET and LionAir crashes. I still don't trust that training and countermeasures were implemented to an acceptable degree.
Good Lord, the A350 was a brand new design and superior in every way to any 777, including the perpetually delayed X. I will quite actively choose an A350 flight over a 777 flight if I can get similar timings and pricing. Even on Qatar itself, they serve a lot of cities in the USA, and I can typically choose to connect in any one of them to DOH. And I usually choose a city with A350 service.
the A350 was designed as a competitor to the B787 family - and offered a few years later. the 777 is not in the same class as the A350.
and the 777x will be a modified 777 not unlike the A330NEO is compared to the A330CEO. Boeing will get comparable economics per seat by putting more seats in the 777X, mostly the 777-9.
The A350 will very likely be Airbus' best selling widebody in time but, again, Boeing has had multiple widebody families that have sold over 1000 copies. Boeing has a very strong headstart on dominating the widebody market and the 777X' strongest appeal is that it will be the largest aircraft available and that matters for a lot of carriers including the Middle East carriers that were big customers for the A380 and will be for the B777X
Quite true Minimus, those who blindly decry QR and attempt to defend the indefensible Boeing are as you point out quite ….“Ignorant”.
I don't think there is a permanent solution yet. (At least not fully applied to all flying A350)
Saw an Air China A350 depart Milan for Beijing a week ago. The part of fuselage around the cockpit windshield was severely lacking paint/cosmetic. (Very obvious from a distance)
How about writing a blog post about Airbus vs. Boeing? Compare aircraft, business culture, etc. Would be a great read.
Jason old chap, Have a look at this and let it sink in. Sometimes a different viewpoint is illuminating …..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCoGxnCti3U
Or:
The Case Against Boeing on Netflix if you have it. Sobering stuff indeed.
Also Jason, you say that Frump should impose sanctions on Qatar immediately.
Is that the same Qatar that “gifted” / bribed him (with) a $400 million dollar aircraft? Along side a 2.5 BILLION dollar golf course ?
May I suggest that you use some of your “superior American English and have a little think about it…………..I’ll wait……….
Anyone who believes, after the DOJ moved to shield Boeing from prosecution following the deaths of 167 people in Boeing Max aircraft with inherent design faults, that Boeing in not the recipient of American protectionist actions, they must be seriously deluded. Airbus aircraft are superior to Boeing aircraft but in the same way the US government is promoting and protecting US carmakers when Asian car makers clearly make better products, Boeing is still the "golden boy" in their sight. The President just accepted a 747 from Qatar. The 747 is probably the last really great plane Boeing manufactured. No ones expecting the US government to order an Airbus for Air Force one, but lets face it, it'd almost certainly be a better and more modern aircraft. But then Boeings survival has always depended more on their government contracts than it has on their ability to build modern, safe aircraft. If only the world was a fair place, we'd have far more Airbus planes in the sky and far fewer aging, unreliable, archaic Boeing aircraft.
It should be noted that QR does not actually fly any 737 MAXes itself. Six of them fly for IndiGo (6E) as a partnership where the Indian LCC provides capacity by connecting from numerous Indian cities to DOH, and the other three are parked. However, A7-BSD, which never flew for 6E so far, will start doing so at the end of this month, May 2025.
It’s clear that QR doesn’t quite intend to fly the 737 MAX as part of its own fleet as much as possible. To that end, it’s soon taking delivery of its first A320neo (A7-AJF), which is a welcome change as A320ceos are its only other narrowbodies. If only QR showed such consistency when it comes to its aging A330 and non-Qsuite 777 fleet...
Sorry, QR’s first A320neo will not be registered A7-AJF. That registration was not delivered to QR, and ended up with none other than IndiGo in 2017, so I messed up there by looking up the wrong registration for the new A320neo. Apologies!
Given the current bad blood between the governments of India and Turkey, one shouldn’t be surprised to see QR and 6E deepen ties all the more (6E also partners with TK and leases two 777s from it, but that might not last much longer)...
Wasn't this the order that got all that news AFTER Trump went to the middle east and claimed he was a master deal maker?
seriously. Stop with the fluff.
You're still doing it.
Twisting facts and keep them buried in so many paragraphs of fluff.
Some of these inane and trite comments remind me of A.net from past decades ago.
Try something different.
Except that they have had record orders this year and avoided a criminal convinction.
Also any country that wants to increase US imports can most easily do this by buying planes
This right here shows you know nothing about aircraft.... Number one the direct competion to the A350 is the 787 and its is far better than the A350 and the 777 is a PROVEN aircraft unlike the A350.
Not surprised. No sensible person/country/company would buy from Boeing at this time
Guy, what kraut have you smoked. The A350 at the end got crafted based on a few major airlines needs, in particular Singapur. It's too big to be considered to be a 767 replacement, what the 787 is. So please stop it. Airbus initially wanted a 330ceo replacement and offered it as A350 instead as A330neo, what would have been a better choice.
Consider the 777X as equally advanced as the 787 or the A350 is wishful thinking of a true blue Boeing fan boy. Please stop it! The 777X is an embarrassing compromise to compensate for the fact, that the carbon architecture of the 787 is too expansive to be scaled up to the size of the 777-9. Hell read up differences between the IML and OML production methods, and the consequences of Boeing's choice to build whole fuselage segments instead of segments like Airbus.
About Middle East carriers -> Quid Pro Quo
The genius the US elected as the current president is pushing quid pro quo to the max. Quid pro quo and supporting other authoritarians is all he's able to. All the latest ME Boeing orders including Emirates are no surprise, and so is the Air China Boeing order. Protection by the US Navy has its price.
Boeing certainly has the support of the US administration to sell their products to ME, Korea, and Taiwan. Protection by the US Army and US Navy has its price.
Would be nice the EU would support Airbus as ferocious as the US is supporting Boeing.
Get the FAA out of the Max business. All you sullyites who refer to it as a death trap wake up. Some of us who actually fly aircraft can fly it just fine and could have on both accident scenarios. Don’t need the “worlds greatest glider pilot” to tell Ilya how to set pitch and power.
737 max is a death trap to countries that don't have the same flight time requirements as the US. Those clowns that crashed those planes didn't know how to fly a plane
Airbus aren’t superior to Boeing as you claim. Both manufacturers have their strong points and weak points.
Jason is an idiot. Qatar has the right to cancel the order. What does Jason means that the European country does not speak English? Jason and Trump are in the same trash.
Jason is an idiot. Qatar has the right to cancel the order. What does Jason means that the European country does not speak English? Jason and Trump are in the same trash.
I found it reasonably informative but editing / grammar through me a bit;
“ It’s because going several years, there was a heated dispute between Airbus and Qatar Airways…”
@ Franco -- Fair point, thanks for the feedback. I publish 10-12 posts a day, so sometimes stuff like that slips through the cracks. I fixed that reference, at least.
Prudent to keep up a healthy skepticism when consuming online content as too much is increasingly “AI” generated crap. I found your article interesting and will look for more of your items. Thanks for the response.
Buy AirBus planes?
You want a bigger trade imbalance so Gov. tRump can increase more trade tariffs? 🙁
It was a trick for the Trump visit, they're spreading honey seeking U.S. investments in AI farms in their country
At this point, the CEO of Boeing is mostly interested in how many quarterly bonuses he can stick in his pocket. Putting out a quality and dependable product is no longer important to many American companies.
Jason is being sarcastic. You can tell by the purposeful absurdity of his post.
Webster dictionary defines it as;
"sarcasm
noun
sar·casm ˈsär-ˌka-zəm
Synonyms of sarcasm
1
: a sharp and often satirical or ironic utterance designed to cut or give pain
2
a
: a mode of satirical wit depending for its effect on bitter, caustic, and often ironic language that is usually directed against an individual"
The USA shouldn't be doing any businesses with any part of Saudi Arabia period. They're not our friends just because trumps doing some shady businesses over there.
Not sure about that. I think Boeing let them out of this 'small' deal in return for the bigger twin isle deal.
To Drew
I agree that Boeing as a company needs to have all management people fired or send in Musk to shake things up but. You may not be aware but unlike american companies Airbus is indirectly backed by the French Government should a new model totally flop. This is especially true on most military projects which can save the butt of a private corporation.
It is interesting that recently, Jim Mcnerney said Boeing needs a new plane now or risk falling way behind. He’s the one that gave the green light to slap lipstick on a pig that created the Max! He’s part of Boeing’s challenges and failures. Mcnerney shouldn’t even be given a space to criticize when he contributed to the long term damage of Boeing.
I hope reading comprehension is such that you noted the article stated that while canceling 50 orders for the small
Jet that they added an order for 210 of the large Boeing 787/777X planes. Funny how the headline left that part, the most consequential portion, out.
Curtis buddy I genuinely need you to explain how a company with 'substandard quality' just:
Leads global aircraft orders in 2025 and 2026
Will lead aircraft deliveries for 2026 and has three Airbus-killing great planes being certified right now (737 MAX 7/10 and 777X).
Has a $567 BILLION backlog — the largest in Boeing history
Just got Qatar Airways to drop the single largest aircraft order EVER
Has Ryanair — the most ruthlessly cost obsessed airline on earth — ordering 300 MAX 10s
Is simultaneously certifying the MAX 7, MAX 10 AND 777X in 2026
Just delivered more aircraft than Airbus in the first 4 months of 2026
Curtis you typed 'substandard quality' while somehow being unaware that the entire professional aviation industry — people whose LIVES and BUSINESSES depend on aircraft quality — keep choosing Boeing with billions of dollars
The market disagrees with you Curtis. Every major airline disagrees with you. The FAA disagrees with you.
Maybe the quality that's substandard here is your aviation research
Yes bro! This is how it should be. The MAX is an almost perfect plane, two crashes sure, A320 has had trillions of crashes. MAX is a good plane and you all Boeing haters need to sign off
I dont know what to do @Jason these irritating Boeing haters are everywhere. No one can see that 737 is way better than A321.