Qatar Airways signs up for 80 A350 XWBs; order worth $16-$18 billion for Airbus

Paris: Qatar Airways has signed a memorandum-of-understanding with Airbus for the purchase of 80 A350 XWB aircraft, totally valued at $16-$18 billion. The order will come as a big boost for Airbus as it has laboured extensively to redesign the A350, it's competitor for Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. So far, the 787 Dreamliner has proved to be a runaway success in international markets.

According to Airbus, Qatar Airways will begin to receive deliveries from mid-2013.

The airline had originally placed an order for 60 of the A350s in 2005. The new order supersedes and enlarges that order.

The order, according to Airbus COO, customers, John Leahy, is "very close to a full purchase agreement," and comprises 20 A350-800s, 40 A350-900s and 20 A350-1000s. The aircraft will be powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines, and will complement Qatar Airways fleet of A330s and A340s on regional and long haul routes.

"In addition to unbeatable operating economics, the A350 XWB shares the same cockpit commonality with other Airbus aircraft, especially the A380, so introducing the modernized fleet will be a simple and cost-efficient step," Qatar Airway's CEO, Akbar Al-Baker, said.

A buoyant Leahy said that he expects more than 200 orders for the A350XWB by the end of the year and also pointed out "the design of the airplane is frozen." This puts to rest recent speculation that Airbus may introduce an all-composite fuselage for the aircraft. According to Leahy, the airframe will contain 52% composite materials, he revealed.

According to Leahy, Airbus has 100 firm orders for the original-design A350 and customers must either cancel or transfer to the new A350XWBs by the end of the year.