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The airline has refused to accept four A320neos so far this year
over performance issues with the aircraft's engines, a
spokeswoman told Reuters.
"We are in negotiations with Airbus about how we can continue
our relationship and keep our order on track minus the ones that
we canceled," CEO Akbar al-Baker told Reuters on the sidelines
of a news conference in Doha.
He said the airline wanted to take delivery of the larger
A321neo jets from 2018 and was considering swapping the engine
order to CFM, a joint venture between General Electric Co <GE.N>
and Safran SA <SAF.PA> of France.
An Airbus spokesman declined to comment when contacted by
Reuters.
Qatar Airways has refused to accept planes with engines made by
Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp <UTX.N>,
saying they required additional time to start under certain
conditions.
The airline said in May it was cutting frequencies on more than
a dozen routes from its Doha hub because of delivery delays of
new aircraft from Airbus.
Qatar Airways announced on Oct. 7 an order for as much as $18.6
billion worth of Boeing <BA.N> jets, including a letter of
intent for 60 narrow-body 737 MAX 8 jets valued at $6.9 billion.
The A320 and 737 compete in the largest segment of the aircraft
market.
At least some of those 737 MAXs will go to Italy's Meridiana,
with which Qatar Airways is talking about taking a 49 percent
stake, Al Baker said.
Italy's second biggest airline would have "nearly 50 aircraft"
within the first five years of Qatar Airways' stake purchase, he
said. The fleet would be a mix of either Airbus or Boeing wide
body jets and 737s.
Al-Baker told Bloomberg on Nov. 6 that he expected to finalize
the stake purchase in January. The deal is dependent on a number
of unspecified conditions being met.
(Writing by Alexander Cornwell; editing by Mark Potter and Jason
Neely)
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