Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said Airbus should consider a larger variant of its new A350 wide-body and upgrade its A380 superjumbo with new engines to make the jets more appealing.
Source: Lindner Fotografie
The mid-sized A350-900 recently added to Qatar’s fleet represents the latest in civil aviation technology, while the Boeing 777X-9 will probably form the backbone of fleets of many major airlines once it’s introduced at the end of the decade, Al Baker said at a conference in Dubai.
Source: Airbus
Airbus should consider an A350 type larger than the -1000 stretch version to retaliate, he said.
Source: Manuel Belleli
Airbus’s largest aircraft have struggled to sustain their order momentum, with the A380 in particular failing to win fresh deals in recent years.
Al Baker said the A380 would be a “killer” with a 10-15% lower fuel burn, an advantage Airbus might achieve with new engines, and that he wouldn’t buy more of the planes in its current form.
“This plane has a very big potential but Airbus have to put their hands in their pocket and take this aircraft a step higher,” Al Baker said, declining to give a number of potential follow-up orders should Airbus opt for a neo option.
This sounds like Airbus of old. Remember how the A350 came about? Why after years of harassment from the Airlines,they finally agreed to build it,years behind the 787. Now it seems yet again Airbus is not listening to its customers and going for the A350-1100 or the A380neo. This stems from years back, of not accessing properly what Airlines would require. They have the A350-900,canceled the 800 so in theory should be full steam ahead. But something is not quite right, only 15/17 A350-900's by years end,when everybody new,that their forecast for this year was 3 per month. Seems the fires gone out or something;doesn't seem to be any urgency it getting things done pronto.
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