Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad International) is planning to add nine B737-8s, which were opportunistically snapped up when their delivery to the sanctioned Russian carrier S7 Airlines became challenging, in order to accelerate and broaden its narrowbody rollover to newer aircraft.
“Recently, Qatar Airlines had the opportunity to add a few B737-8 MAX planes to its fleet during the ensuing months. To support future expansion, especially in short-haul markets, the airline plans to expand capacity. As a rapidly growing airline, these efficient and modern aircraft are a welcome addition to our narrowbody fleet to support our sustainable expansion goals as the leading airline in the world “As reported by Doha News from the carrier.
The advanced module for ch-aviation fleets states that at least three of the planes will be leased from Air Leasing Company.
Two B737-8s were delivered to S7 Airlines prior to the B737-global 8’s grounding. The plane was delivered to Globus, a technical division of it. Yet, S7 was allowed permission to return these two aircraft to their lessors, Aviation Capital Group and Air Leasing Company.
In August 2022 because Russia hasn’t fully de-grounded the type (apart from Belavia operations). While they are currently in storage (at Birmingham, Great Britain, and Woensdrecht), none of the two -8 aircraft that S7 Airlines returned will be joining Qatar Airways’ fleet.
Turkey’s AnadoluJet purchased seven B737-8 planes from BOC Aviation in 2022 that were originally destined for S7 Airlines.
The Qatar Airlines Group has a troubled history with the B737-8. In 2016, it made a provisional commitment to lease 60 of them; the other half of this order was subsequently finalized with lessors. The initial five aircraft were delivered to Air Italy, a subsidiary of Qatar Airlines that holds a 49% ownership stake (although only three entered into service). After the Italian airline folds in the early 2020s.
Qatar Airlines said it will not need the type. It returned the delivered aircraft to Air Italy and terminated the remaining commitment. Qatar Airlines twice rejected the B737-10 in the months that followed, but then surprisingly decided to purchasing 25 of them with an additional 25 options in early 2022. The contract, which was finalized in July 2022, does not cover any -8s acquired directly from the manufacturer.
Qatar Airlines has 29 A320-200s in its fleet of narrowbodies as of this writing, according to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module.
