Qatar Airways has lost a legal battle with Airbus, allowing Airbus not to sell planes to Qatar Airways. This is bad news for those of us who like flying Qatar Airways, and good news for any airline that’s looking to move forward some Airbus delivery slots…
Continue reading: Qatar Airways Loses Airbus A321neo Legal Battle
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Qatar has always been a difficult client with both Airbus and Boeing complaining privately of Akbar’s difficult demands. Funny how it’s only Qatar who have grounded the 350
Qatar Airways never learned the major life lesson to never burn the bridges you might have to walk across in the future.
As an Australian I wish the best for Qatar. They kept Australia connected when Qantas abandoned Australian citizens overseas for two years. Stranded Aussies will never forget this.
Of course it's a duopoly, Airbus & boeing is doing whatever they like hecause no other third party is involved in competition,
Also Airbus has lost a big customer like Qatat airways by using a (likeky European court) against an Arab customer
Who needs Airbus or Boeing these days?? There's a new big boy coming up! ILYUSHIN... In fact, a little birdy told me that Qatar Airways is negotiating with them right now to replace the A321 neo's and A350's
I've sat in first and coach on both these aircraft. I can tell you there is minimal difference in "comfort". In the end, these are flying metal tubes in the sky. Fuel efficiency/versatility I'll give you, but let's move on from this comfort thing. It's becoming way overblown.
Completely agree with @Evan!
Please stop using “comfort”.
I will never prefer to be in a narrow body for any flight over 3.5 hours.
Seating and seats are determined by the airline NOT manufacturers.
Airbus A320 series is wider than Boeing 737 series, meaning airlines do generally have more space to work with. Especially for shoulder width it makes a great impact.
Also air conditioning (higher pressure and humidity) and soundproofing on A320 series is way superior to Boeing's 737 series.
These advantages are the same no matter the individual airline configuration.
These can no longer be built/supported with the current sanctions. And even then, an older third-hand A320/B737 will still be better.
Frankly, the current range of the narrow body fleets of both Airbus and Boeing are fine with me. Extended range for narrow bodies offers no “comfort” for me given that the wide body options are preferable. I’m not interested in Transatlantic flights in extended range narrow body aircraft. As for the comfort differences between the A321 and B737 in the front, they escape me. As for Qatar, they clearly overplayed their hand and lost, at least for the moment.
Mine is wider and longer - muuuuh.
Try a Gulfstream G650 or Dassault Falcon-10X. Better than even Etiahd Residences on A380 despite being not 'wide'.
Sweatpants of low-class-gangsta-rap-peasants are wide. My Armani suit on the other hand is tailored to sleekly fit my body proportions.
Akbar Al Baker went over-the-top to be a PITA to Airbus in the A350 dispute, so it's not entirely surprising Airbus management decided to cut bait with Qatar Airways, which was essentially the nuclear option. AAB tried to win on all fronts by getting great deals on Airbus (A350, A321, etc.) airplanes yet also suing publicly and loudly for damages on the A350. Airbus execs undoubtedly did some math and figured AAB/Qatar had moved from being a large/marquee but low-profit customer to being an unprofitable, hell-raising customer before pulling the plug.
In other words, AAB played hardball one too many times and finally saw his straws break the camel's back.
There is NO WAY Airbus investors will allow this to continue for much longer. Airbus is not open to being held hostage by carriers, since it's not good for business.
Airbus and Qatar WILL make up at some point soon! Too many tens of billions on the table.
"Qatar Airways terminated its contract to sell A321neos to Qatar Airways earlier this year" bit of a typo there i see
The difference in width is negligible and is usually either eaten up by a slightly wider aisle or 1 CM of extra width in a seat.
But Russia allegedly said they will start production of an all-Russian SSJ version with Russian engines and little to no Western parts. Well, I read it on airliners(.)net, not sure how true this is.
SSJs never met the performance capabilities or load factor of B737/A320, there is no way it will serve Qatar’s intended use of carrying out more flights to MENA and South East Asia, including key markets like India, where demands are very high with 100% occupancy almost every flight. At the same time SSJs have a very high amount of maintenance irregularities, one Aeroflot exec once said they had to ground multiple SSJ for everyone one they operated because they would have various issues with several of them. I tried to fly Aeroflot SSJ last year from Kazan to Moscow two times as part of my bucket list plan, both times there was equipment change to an A320, even though the flight wasn’t quite empty. So that about says how much SSJ are useful
What you are talking about ?
Stop to dream and educate yourself.
UK juridiction is the one who manage the intl conflict with planes manufacturers.
Qatar airways should step down from their high horse and mend fences with Airbus.
This is business , not war!
QR is not a privately-held entity, and Airbus is the literally winner here.... so what exactly is there for "investors" to not allow? If anything, Airbus' shareholders should be happy with the legal precedent set here, and the fact that QR's ownership (i.e. Qatari government) pushed too far, and is now forced to eat crow.
And yet, you just contradicted yourself with your own nonsense at the end. What difference is there in being in a 3x3 narrowbody versus a 3x4x3 B777? If you're tempted to say "shoulder height!" or "headroom," you'd be incorrect for the the seats on the wall.
Bullshit. The public has the memory of a goldfish. One good fare sale, and EK will be right back in the thick of things down there.
You fly Gulfstream G650 all the time, that’s nice. Why are you on a miles and points blog again?
What do you mean stuck with Boeing? Real bad choice of words ans shows prejudice towards Boeing.
I didn’t interpret that comment in that way. Seems like you’re overthinking it. How would you have worded it?
Prejudice towards the company that sold a defective aircraft?! Heavens to Betsy!
hmm, the article's mention of delivery timelines implies that Airbus has more demand than it can currently meet. So, the kiss-and-make-up might not be as "some point soon" as one might think.