This shouldn’t be a shock to anyone, but Qatar Airways has quietly canceled its Boeing 737 MAX 10 order.
Qatar Airways no longer plans to expand Boeing 737 MAX fleet
In 2022, Qatar Airways placed an order for up to 50 Boeing 737 MAX 10 aircraft, including 25 firm orders and 25 options. This is the largest variant of the 737 MAX, and it’s also one of the variants that’s yet to be certified. For quite some time, there have been rumors that this order would be canceled, and that has now been confirmed by the company’s CEO, Badr Mohammed Al Meer, in an interview with Bloomberg.
The official cancelation of this order came as part of the recently announced deal with Boeing, whereby Qatar Airways placed a massive wide body aircraft order, for up to 210 jets. This includes orders for both the 787 and 777X. Given Boeing’s certification woes with the 737 MAX 10, I imagine that deal could’ve been canceled anyway at some point, without any penalty.
Do keep in mind that Qatar Airways currently flies a few Boeing 737 MAX 8s. These are just planes that are intended to temporarily increase capacity, as they were designed for Russia’s S7 Airlines. Due to sanctions, the airline couldn’t take delivery of them, and now Qatar Airways intends to eventually get rid of them as well.
Qatar Airways going all-in on Airbus A321neo
With the Boeing 737 MAX 10 order being cut, Qatar Airways still has 50 Airbus narrow body jets on order, including 40 A321neos and 10 A321LRs.
These planes will be a game changer for Qatar Airways. Not only will they offer a much improved onboard product (many with flat beds), but they’ll allow the airline to massively expand its narrow body fleet. Qatar Airways currently has 30 narrow body planes, while the airline will eventually have 50 of them.
So, why did Qatar Airways order the 737 MAX in the first place, if it had so many A321neos on order? It’s because going back several years, there was a heated dispute between Airbus and Qatar Airways, whereby the airline and aircraft manufacturer were arguing over the condition of Airbus A350s. Qatar Airways claimed the fuselage of the aircraft was degrading at an accelerated rate, while Airbus claimed that the damage was cosmetic.
The battle got so bad that Airbus refused to sell more planes to Qatar Airways, and canceled the Doha-based carrier’s existing aircraft orders. So at the time, Qatar Airways placed what I’d describe as a “rebound” aircraft order, for Boeing jets.
The two companies ended up reaching a settlement in 2023, and as part of that, Qatar Airways’ Airbus aircraft orders were also reinstated.
The reality is that the A320-family of aircraft is a better fit for Qatar Airways than the 737-family. The A321neo product range is much more versatile, Qatar Airways’ existing narrow body fleet is primarily Airbus, etc. So it’s no surprise that Qatar Airways ultimately canceled that Boeing order.
Bottom line
Qatar Airways has canceled its Boeing 737 MAX 10 order, which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. This decision was formally made as part of the recent huge Boeing wide body aircraft order.
Qatar Airways will instead focus on the Airbus A321neo, which makes a lot of sense, since that’s the plane the airline wanted in the first place. The airline only ordered the 737 MAX after Airbus canceled the A321neo order due to a dispute. Of course the two companies ultimately made up, and Qatar Airways then stuck to its original plan.
What do you make of Qatar Airways axing its Boeing 737 MAX 10 order?
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