Qatar Airways Orders 25 Boeing 737 MAX 10s

Qatar Airways Orders 25 Boeing 737 MAX 10s

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It looks like Qatar Airways’ order for the Boeing 737 MAX 10 is back on.

Qatar Airways finalizes order for Boeing 737 MAX 10

A deal has just been finalized for Qatar Airways to acquire 25 Boeing 737 MAX 10s. The 737 MAX 10 is the largest variant of the 737 MAX family, with a capacity for up to 230 passengers and a range of up to 3,300 nautical miles.

The catch is that the plane hasn’t actually been certified, and Boeing is facing some challenges with that. The aircraft manufacturer has gone so far as to threaten to cancel the jet, if certain safety regulation exceptions aren’t made.

The timeline with which Qatar Airways will take delivery of these planes remains to be seen, though I imagine it won’t be before 2025 (at the absolute earliest).

Qatar Airways’ 737 MAX order is back on

Confusion about Qatar Airways’ Boeing order

At the end of January 2022, Qatar Airways and Boeing signed a memorandum of understanding for the acquisition of up to 102 jets, including the following:

  • Up to 50 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, including 25 confirmed orders for the 737 MAX 10, and 25 options
  • Up to 50 Boeing 777X freighters, including 34 confirmed orders for the 777-8 freighter and 16 options
  • Two current generation Boeing 777 freighters

While there was a lot of press surrounding that initial announcement, over the months the order seemed less serious. In early July, Qatar Airways even revealed that the order with Boeing had “expired,” which is to say that the order hadn’t been executed.

I’m curious if there was a change of heart, or if Qatar Airways just wanted to make sure it could have an announcement with Boeing at the Farnborough Airshow.

Qatar Airways placed an order with Boeing earlier this year

The Boeing 737 MAX is better than nothing, but…

The timing of the initial order announcement was no coincidence, and seemed to be a result of the heated dispute between Airbus and Qatar Airways. The airline and aircraft manufacturer are arguing over the condition of Airbus A350s. Qatar Airways claims the fuselage of the aircraft is degrading at an accelerated rate, while Airbus is claiming that the damage is cosmetic.

The two companies are in a nasty legal battle, and it has gotten to the point where Airbus even terminated its contract to sell Qatar Airways 50 Airbus A321neos. With Airbus refusing to sell these planes to Qatar Airways, the Doha-based airline instead placed an order with Boeing.

The way I view it, ideally Qatar Airways and Airbus could make up, since Airbus largely has superior aircraft, in my opinion. There’s simply no denying that the A321neo line is superior to the 737 MAX line when it comes to range, passenger comfort, etc.

The upcoming A321XLR will be the longest range narrow body airliner in the world, and could do incredible things for Qatar Airways. Boeing doesn’t have a real competitor to that.

Of course if there can’t be a resolution between Qatar Airways and Airbus, then I guess an order with Boeing is the next best thing. Qatar Airways’ narrow body fleet currently consists primarily of A320s, and they’re an average of around 10 years old. So while the planes are by no means old, many of them could use new interiors.

It’s too bad Qatar Airways can’t get the A321neo

Bottom line

Qatar Airways has finalized its order for 25 Boeing 737 MAX 10s. This order was first announced in early 2022, then it was revealed that the order had expired, and now it’s back on. I can’t blame Qatar Airways for finalizing plans to refresh its narrow body fleet, it’s just a shame that it won’t be with the A321neo family of aircraft.

What do you make of Qatar Airways’ 737 MAX order?

Conversations (14)
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  1. Ron Yap Guest

    Makes no sense when the plane is not yet certified to fly. Looks like it will a long waiting time before the Max time arrives.

  2. Alwaleed Althani Guest

    Actually I am happier with the 737-10 even though the A321neo is an excellent plane but wear and tear on Airbus components is much more when you compare it to Boeing Delta and United have 25 year old 757s and 737s and they are still in good shape while an Airbus A350 with Qatar Airways I just flew on to Singapore was literally falling to pieces

  3. Mona Guest

    Business as usual for Boeing they want to make a new plane as cheap as possible and they are trying to go around the rules from FAA - they have not proved yet they are a safe company to fly with they have just a dollar sign in front of them...
    I will never go with a Boeing plane

  4. Frednyon Guest

    Boeing has not yet been able to prove that their Max 10 could safely fly without having before to retrain all pilots on what to do when the nose start diving.
    So obviously QR is desperately trying to send a message to Bus that they have a solution to replace their older A32x, when they actually don’t.
    There is a good reason why this Max is much cheaper than competition. It is that no passenger wants to fly it.

  5. Steve Diamond

    How can you say one airplane is clearly superior if airlines keep ordering the other one...

    1. stogieguy7 Diamond

      The A320neo series has such a backlog that it's taking years for Airbus to fill orders. As a result, their deals aren't likely to be as attractive as a lot of airlines would like. Heck, Airbus has such sway that when Qatar complained bitterly regarding their paint processes - and made it into a legal battle - Airbus simply cancelled all of their orders (which was a lot).

      Boeing has been getting a lot...

      The A320neo series has such a backlog that it's taking years for Airbus to fill orders. As a result, their deals aren't likely to be as attractive as a lot of airlines would like. Heck, Airbus has such sway that when Qatar complained bitterly regarding their paint processes - and made it into a legal battle - Airbus simply cancelled all of their orders (which was a lot).

      Boeing has been getting a lot of business for the 737MAX because that's what's readily available. It's still a garbage aircraft, but it's cheaper to buy than an A32x and it can be delivered more quickly. And you can make it really cheap per seat mile. So yes, the A32x series is clearly superior to the MAX - but, just as a fine steak is superior to a hamburger - there are a lot more hamburgers sold in the world than steaks.

    2. Xyz Guest

      If Qatar is buying these Boeing 737 max aircrafts, I'm ditching Qatar airways forever.

    3. MG Guest

      I do respect ones opinion and if they think one plane is superior, it is what it is. Both are metal tubes that aren't the most comfortable places to be IMO. That said, I truly wonder how many really knew or noticed the A320 from 737 width difference. I guess I'm not as anti 737 as others.

    4. Donna Diamond

      I’m also in the camp that the subtle cabin comfort differences in the two planes mean little to me, the extra 5” of cabin width in the A321 neo isn’t noticeable.

    5. VFRonTop Guest

      You mean the 8115 A32Xneo orders vs the 4911 max orders currently on the books?

    6. Kakuba Guest

      Good, may they receive some money from Airbus

    7. Mona Guest

      Business as usual for Boeing....
      The question is have they learned anything from this two crashes they have been through
      Are they thinking about the safety or they want to go around the rules again and make a new plane as cheap as possible? I think so...
      Boeing has not proved they are safe to go with....

  6. Reno Joe Guest

    While the A321XLR has a substantially longer range than the B737MAX, the real questions are: What's the mission? --- What route would Qatar want that the 737 can't reach? The likelihood is that Qatar would use the 737 for surrounding destinations as opposed to true long-haul routes. The 737 could easily reach all of Europe, west to Morocco, east to Thailand & Indonesia. and south to Mauritius.

    1. EthaninSF Gold

      Agreed. Doesn't QR use their narrowbodies for secondary European, India/subcontinent, Central Asia, and African destinations? More or less are all accessible for the 737Max. The geographic position of the Middle East is why these airlines work so well. An extra 1000nmi in range - really just covers more ocean from Doha, not a huge number of destinations.

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Reno Joe Guest

While the A321XLR has a substantially longer range than the B737MAX, the real questions are: What's the mission? --- What route would Qatar want that the 737 can't reach? The likelihood is that Qatar would use the 737 for surrounding destinations as opposed to true long-haul routes. The 737 could easily reach all of Europe, west to Morocco, east to Thailand & Indonesia. and south to Mauritius.

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EthaninSF Gold

Agreed. Doesn't QR use their narrowbodies for secondary European, India/subcontinent, Central Asia, and African destinations? More or less are all accessible for the 737Max. The geographic position of the Middle East is why these airlines work so well. An extra 1000nmi in range - really just covers more ocean from Doha, not a huge number of destinations.

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Donna Diamond

I’m also in the camp that the subtle cabin comfort differences in the two planes mean little to me, the extra 5” of cabin width in the A321 neo isn’t noticeable.

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