In yet another act to provoke Airbus, Akbar Al Baker, CEO of Qatar Airways, announced during the Farnborough Airshow 2022 that the airline will be the first worldwide operator of the new Triple Seven.
Ironically, Qatar Airways was also the first operator of the Airbus A350, the main rival of the Boeing 777X and became the main bet of the Qatari operator after intrigues with court disputes over paint problems on some A350 units, including cracks in the fuselage.
“We will be the first recipient of the Boeing 777X. We are the first launch customer together with Emirates. Boeing has already announced that the first delivery will be in 2025. It was supposed to be 2022, originally 2021… I really hope they can even improve the schedule in 2025”, announced Al Baker.
Including being one of the first operators, Qatar Airways has an impressive order for the new Boeing jet with 50 orders for the 777-9, also including an order for 24 examples of the 777-8, a smaller variant of the 777X.
Despite the executive's statements, Boeing has not confirmed which will be the first operator, with the possibility of Emirates becoming the launch customer due to the fact that the company holds the largest number of orders, with 115 jets.
With the conclusion of the certification of the 777X scheduled for the second half of 2024, Boeing hopes to avoid further delays in the jet's schedule, which had its operational debut scheduled for later this year.
With information: Simple flying
