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1 Aug, 2017

Qatar Airways Sticks to Plane Orders Despite Crisis

Doha, Qatar, 29 July 2017, (NNN-QNA) — Qatar Airways continues to make money, and will go through with jet orders it’s already committed to, as the nation seeks an international ruling, restoring its access to air corridors, the Minister of Transport & Communications, Jassim Saif Ahmed al-Sulaiti, said.

“We are continuing and maybe we’ll go faster,” al-Sulaiti said, of the carrier’s plane orders from Boeing and Airbus.

The airline may not be able to meet its previous financial targets, but is “in good shape” as it opens new routes, he added, while speaking at a meeting with reporters, in Montreal.

At a hearing, al-Sulaiti will make a case to the International Civil Aviation Organisation, a Montreal-based United Nations agency, to open six or seven international flight corridors, and mitigate the economic fallout from the crisis between Qatar and a bloc comprising Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain.

The request is the first of three files the country is preparing, to regain air rights, he said.

Qatar is also in discussions with two countries to invest in ports, al-Sulaiti said, declining to name them. Also, if Qatar Airways’ plan to acquire 10% of American Airlines falls through, there will be other opportunities elsewhere, according to the Minister.

“We are not in a hurry to do it,” he said.