Qatar Airways and Boeing announce $20bn deal
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Qatar Airways is currently suing Airbus for compensation that has continually increased and now exceeds $1 billion.
Boeing has announced two major agreements with Qatar Airways worth $20 billion.
The contract with Qatar Airways was revealed at a White House ceremony attended by top US and Qatari officials, and it includes the sale of 34 777X freighters, and options for another 16 planes in Boeing’s historic dual-aisle 777 series.
The Qatar Airways deal is the largest freighter commitment in Boeing history.
“Today marks a great day in the ever-building and strong relationship between Qatar Airways and Boeing,” said Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker.
Boeing also announced that the airline and Boeing have achieved an agreement worth roughly $7 billion for a firm order of 25 737 MAX planes and buy rights for another 25 planes.
The developments illustrate that Boeing “serves a global need that in a post-Covid world will be coming back, and coming back in a significant way,” said Boeing’s Chief Executive David Calhoun at the signing.
The deals provide a boost to Boeing, which is still grappling with quality control issues as the commercial aviation industry recovers from the depths of the coronavirus crisis.
Boeing announced a quarterly loss of $4.1 billion last week due to problems with its 787 Dreamliner aircraft, which resulted in $3.8 billion in one-time costs. Due to a series of production issues, the manufacturer has halted deliveries on the model.
Despite an increase in MAX deliveries last year, Boeing’s return has been hampered by the 787’s difficulties. The MAX was certified for service in late 2020 after a 20-month ban following two tragic crashes.
“We certainly push Boeing hard to deliver upon our expectations, and the team at Boeing consistently strives to meet and exceed our expectations, giving the opportunity for us to be here today to launch the most significant new freighter aircraft for a generation,” said Al-Baker.
Qatar Airways’ legal battle with Airbus
On April 27, Qatar Airways lost the legal battle against Airbus over its A321neo jets order cancellation.
Airbus can now cancel Qatar Airways’ A321neo single-aisle jet contract, giving the plane-maker a temporary victory in a contentious court battle with one of its biggest customers.
The much-anticipated judgement was handed down by a UK court, which denied the Gulf carrier’s effort to force Airbus to continue producing its A321neo jetliners for the airline as part of a larger public dispute worth up to one billion dollars.
According to Reuters, Airbus received support for its argument because the two contracts are linked by a “cross-default” clause that permits it to “draw the plug on one arrangement when an airline refuses to honour the other.”
Qatar Airways had requested on April 7 that a UK judge extend the provisional decision to ‘freeze’ the Airbus cancellation decision. T he first A321neo was scheduled to be delivered in 2021.
The European planemaker is free to market its popular smaller jets to other airlines or remove them entirely from industrial plans to relieve factory congestion, according to the preliminary ruling by the British judge, while the two sides remain locked in a separate disagreement over the safety of larger A350 jets.
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