Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad International) is in talks with Bombardier Aerospace (BBA, Montréal Trudeau) concerning the possible use of CSeries jets for the Qatari carrier's proposed Indian venture, CEO Akbar al Baker has said.
"Instead of ATRs [from ATR - Avions de Transport Régional] or Q400s [from Bombardier Aerospace], I could use the CSeries on short-runway destinations in India," he told Reuters during the 2017 Paris Airshow.
In March this year, al Baker revealed plans to take advantage of India's proposed relaxation of laws governing foreign investment in local carriers. Under the plan, though foreign carriers may not own more than 49% of an Indian airline, sovereign wealth funds are and have been permitted to own up to 51% of Indian scheduled passenger airlines.
As such, al Baker said the proposed venture would use the Qatar Investment Authority, Qatar's sovereign wealth fund and Qatar Airways' parent, as a likely vehicle to establish the carrier.
The future of the project, as well as the proposed finalization of Qatar Airways' acquisition of a 49% stake in Italy's Meridiana fly, will have an impact on what the carrier does with its LOI with Boeing (BOE, Washington National) for sixty B737-8s.
al Baker said that so far, twenty aircraft have been firmed up with the futures of the remaining forty options and purchase rights to be determined according to how the Italy and India ventures develop.
Concerning the B737 MAX 10, Boeing's latest narrowbody offering unveiled during the Paris show, al Baker said Qatar Airways had no interest in the variant given its commitment to the A321neo.
On the issue of the A321neo, al Baker said Qatar Airways had nearly completed a contract to switch the fleet's engine selection from the problem-prone Pratt & Whitney PW1100G to the CFM International LEAP-1A beginning from the second half of 2018.
