Qatar Airways has taken delivery of its first A380 from Airbus, promising “class” not butlers for passengers travelling from London’s Heathrow airport to Doha when the superjumbo takes up the route next month.
In a pointed swipe at rivals battling over the luxury interiors on their A380 aircraft, Akbar Al Baker, Qatar’s chief executive, said: “We have no residences, no suites and no butlers, but we have class.”
The delivery of the first of 10 A380s ordered by Qatar Airways brings to an end a three-month dispute between the airline and Airbus over the quality of the cabin interiors. Mr Al Baker had previously rejected delivery of the aircraft after saying the cabin was not up to expectations.
However, on receiving the first A380 he was in a more emollient mood and even hinted more orders could be on the way. “We will see its performance and, if it exceeds our expectations, we will . . . maybe take some more,” he told journalists in Hamburg, Germany.
This was good news for Airbus because it has been struggling to find new buyers for the A380, which suffered major cost over-runs partly because of production problems. Fabrice Brégier, chief executive of Airbus’s passenger jet business, told Bloomberg that a production rate of close to 30 aircraft a year could be maintained even though he admitted orders had been soft in 2014.
Airbus has secured orders for 318 A380s with 19 customers, and some analysts believe the superjumbo – which carries more than 500 passengers – will struggle to generate sales to match smaller long-range aircraft.
Airbus is on track to deliver the first A350 – its new long-range jet that is smaller than the A380 – to Qatar Airways, the launch customer, before the end of the year.
Mr Al Baker hinted that Qatar Airways, which has ordered 80 A350s, could buy more. “The aircraft will – God willing – be delivered to us before the end of the year on schedule and we may have some additional surprises for you which I will not discuss with you now,” he said.