Qatar Airways to place no orders at Farnborough: Al Baker
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Qatar Airways will not place any orders at the UK’s Farnborough Air Show next month, said the airline’s chief executive. “We have too many airplanes now. There will be no more orders,” chief executive Akbar al Baker mentioned on the sidelines of an event in Qatar, declining to specify a timeframe for when new orders might be made.
The airline will convert up to 20 of its Airbus EAD.PA A330 passenger jets into freighters, with an announcement likely to be made at Farnborough, said Baker. Baker had previously threatened to buy converted Boeing BA.N 767 aircraft because of a gap in Airbus’s cargo strategy. Qatar Airways, half-owned by sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority, bought a 35% stake in freight carrier Cargolux Airlines International CLUX.UL last year.