Qatar Airways’ CEO has announced that the airline will start transitioning out of its A380-800s once it begins receiving deliveries of A350-1000s from an Airbus deal that has been revived.
CEO Akbar al Baker said the A350-1000s were first ordered for fleet replacement purposes while speaking to the media at the Paris Air Show. Airbus cancelled the final 19 A350-1000 orders in September 2022 amid a contentious disagreement over the type’s fuselage paint degradation problems.
Prior to that, Qatar Airways had been turning down A350 deliveries and bringing 10 of their A380-800s out of retirement to fill in the gaps in their capacity. Al Baker wasn’t a fan of the plane, but this still happened. In 2021, he called the carrier’s decision to acquire them “the biggest mistake” it had ever made.
That disagreement as well as another one involving A321-200Ns were resolved by Qatar Airways and Airbus at the beginning of February. Airbus consented to resume deliveries as part of the settlement, but much later than anticipated. The A350’s first deliveries are now anticipated to begin in 2025.
Qatar Airways has put back into operation 21 of its A350-1000 aircraft, according to ch-aviation fleets advanced data. Al Baker told the media last week in Paris that the A380-800s will be “taken off gradually” once the new orders are fulfilled. In his words, the airline has taken a full impairment against the A380s and “eventually, over a period of time, we will ground them again.”
The A380-800 is currently only used by Qatar Airways to fly to four locations: Sydney Kingsford Smith, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, Perth International, and London Heathrow. 524 passengers can be accommodated aboard Qatar’s tightly packed A380-800s in three cabin classes. In contrast, the A350-1000’s smaller cabin can accommodate 327 passengers in two classes. Additionally, Qatar Airways has placed an order for 40 B777-9 aircraft, with deliveries expected to start in 2025. The B777-9s, with a planned two-cabin capacity of about 415 people, will be the largest passenger aircraft in the carrier’s fleet once the A380-800s do leave Qatar Airways’ fleet.
