Qatar may turn to Boeing over A320neo problems

Qatar is talking to Boeing about securing possible replacement aircraft after problems with their A320neo aircraft have developed. Qatar is concerned about being able to meet growth plans, and the timeline to have the problems resolved. Problems have developed with hydraulic pump noise issues while taxiing, as well as hydraulic temperature discrepancies. The other problem relates to the Pratt&Whitney engine cooling that caused them to defer delivery of the first aircraft, and made Lufthansa the launch customer instead.

Qatar is looking at either replacing some or all of their order with 737NG aircraft that use the CFM56 engines, or changing their engine selection for the neo to the CFM Leap-1 engine. But if they change to the CFM engine for the neo, they could be waiting until next year to get their first aircraft, which will delay their growth plans.

DUBAI—Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said Monday he has begun talks with Boeing Co. about a potential narrowbody-plane order, ratcheting up pressure on Airbus over delays to its newest single-aisle jet.

Mr. Al Baker previously had threatened to walk away from a deal for Airbus A320neo planes due to concerns over the engines made by United Technologies Corp.’s Pratt & Whitney unit.

“We are studying our options,” Mr. Al Baker said on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market conference in Dubai. The talks with Boeing are the most concrete sign Qatar Airways may walk away from at least part of its order for 34 A320neo and 16 A321neo planes.

www.wsj.com...

a reply to: Zaphod58

There's been talk of other airlines being discontent with their orders as well. I've heard some are considering just parking their new A320neo deliveries until the problems get worked out because they're practically unusable with many of the current hardware limitations.

a reply to: justwanttofly

Yeah I've heard similar. This is the huge one though. If Qatar drops them, that hurts Airbus bad. Qatar and Delta set the trends.

Airbus just announced a cut from 8 aircraft a month to four, which it will hold until June at the earliest. The plan had been to increase to 10 by July, but it appears the engine fix will require hardware and software fixes.

Lufthansa has been operating the aircraft on domestic flights only and confirms the 15% improvement in fuel burn has been slightly surpassed.

a reply to: Zaphod58


We could subsidize them even more like the socialists over in Europe do to undercut and drop the prices way down. It's like everyone's favorite topic says, we aren't playing on a level field anymore. Unfortunately it's true. If Boeing announced they were cutting production that drastically there would be bedlam.

a reply to: Zaphod58

10 years ago, I'd be seriously worried about the future of the A320NEO project.

But after watching the 787's far worse developmental teething problems work themselves out as beautifully as they did, I'm convinced that the big two, and any civil projects within them, are literally too big to fail.

Both the 787 and the NEO are the most advanced aircraft ever attempted in their respective market segments, and they've both been dogged by major delays in their respective developments (though the 787 still wins that one so far, exploding Li-ion batteries and all). Back in 2008-2010, I was eagerly trumpeting the idea that the 787 was a developmental disaster on par with the MD-11 and would be Boeing's downfall within the 767/A300/A330's segment, and boy, have I eaten some major crow on that one.

The reality, at least as far as I'm convinced, is that airline executives have short, short memories when it comes to new hardware, and tend to focus in the moment on the economics of a given platform (from Airbus or Boeing, at least) rather than how rocky that platform's development may have been.

Fast forward to 2016, and despite its considerable struggles during development, the 787 currently has enough backorders to keep its lines running well into the 2020s. It's been a phenomenal success, and the double-digit fuel economy improvements that it offers have been enough to create entirely new routings and business models (such as Norwegian Air Shuttle's long-distance budget service) that didn't exist even 5 years ago.

Qatar may drop the A320Neo for the 737Max, just as some carriers purchased A330's instead of 787's, but at the end of the day, Lufthansa's fuel burn numbers will mean far, far more to airline executives 6 months to a year from now than the Qatar order ever did, and someone, SOMEONE will be eyeing all that excess A320Neo production capacity and will place a phone call to Toulouse looking to make a deal.

At least, that's how I'm convinced things are working these days...

In a surprise move, Qatar ordered up to 100 Boeing aircraft, including signing a Letter Of Intent on 60 737 Max aircraft. They say they will maintain the A320neo order, but they were forced to turn to the 737 because of the reliability issues already seen with the Airbus.

airwaysmag.com...

a reply to: Zaphod58

I'd bet they're keeping the NEOs because selling their early delivery slots and already made jets could prove quite lucrative.

a reply to: justwanttofly

That was my thought. They'll lease them out to other airlines that might want them, but don't want to buy them or can't afford to buy them. They'll get a good chunk of change back on them.