BOEING REACTS TO QATAR AIRWAYS CRITICISM BY ANNOUNCING B787 DELIVERY
Media reports in recent days about the ‘refusal’ by Qatar Airways to take delivery of the first batch of their ordered 60 – 30 firm orders and 30 options – B787 Dreamliners appear to have rattled Boeing to the point of rushing to the media announcing the first plane had in fact been delivered now. Qatar Airways was to be the first of the Gulf airline giants to take delivery of the Dreamliner, ahead of Emirates and Etihad.
The Boeing statement however appears somewhat misleading as the only information available towards that end is that a B787 in Qatar Airways livery was supposed to fly to California to install internet connectivity modifications into the aircraft before returning to Seattle for a handover to what appears to be a reluctant airline.
Qatar Airways cited unspecified issues over the General Electric GEnx engines selected to power the world’s most modern wide body passenger aircraft, further fueled in recent days when Ethiopian Airlines had to carry out an unscheduled engine change on their first B787 before General Electric then issued a directive for an engine inspection on all delivered power plants already in use.
PR ploy by Boeing therefore to defuse a potentially very negative development or is Qatar Airways truly getting their first B787 Dreamliner delivered over the coming days?
Time will tell so watch this space.
