Qatar Airways Ditches Boeing 737 MAX 10 Order

In an interview with Bloomberg, Qatar Airways confirmed that it would be abandoning its orders for 25 Boeing 737 MAX 10 aircraft, an order which was placed during a spat with Airbus over A350 surface degradation. The information was revealed by the airline's chief executive officer Badr Al Mir. The airline head was speaking about the carrier's recent $96 billion Boeing order for 160 Boeing 787 and 777X jets, responding negatively to a question about whether Airbus was out of the game. Now, this may not come as a surprise to some, as news of a potential cancellation from Qatar Airways emerged back in December. Citing sources, Bloomberg noted that the reasons being floated during the discussions covered the fact that the plane no longer met Qatar Airways' fleet requirements. It was initially assumed that Qatar Airways would switch its order for the 737 MAX 10 to the 737 MAX 8, rather than cancel it outright. It turns out that Qatar has opted for a complete cancellation. The one-world member had 25 MAX 10s on order, most recently anticipating delivery for late 2025. At the time of the order at the 2022 Farnborough Air Show, Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and CEO at the time, Stan Deal, described the plane as being ideally suited for Qatar Airways' regional network. The airline is now switching back to Airbus for its short-haul and lower-capacity strategy. With the MAX 10 jets now abandoned, the only remaining narrowbody planes the airline has on order are from Airbus. CH Aviation data shows 50 Airbus A321neos as of yet undelivered. As many of you will already know, Qatar Airways and Airbus were involved in a fairly noteworthy legal dispute as a result of surface degradation issues with the airline's A350 fleet. Qatar Airways was forced to ground several airframes over these concerns, which required extensive repairs. In January 2021, Qatar Airways sought more than $600 million in damages from Airbus. In a somewhat rare and essentially unheard-of move, it was Airbus that cancelled Qatar Airways' order for the A321neos. Airbus had also removed the carrier's 23 remaining A350s from its order book. Both orders were reinstated in early 2023 after the two parties came to an agreement over the lengthy dispute. This notably came after Qatar Airways signed large deals with Boeing, which some saw as a demonstration that the carrier could do just fine without Airbus and would be taking its business elsewhere. The latest revelation concerning the 737 MAX 10 cancellation came as Almir was answering questions about where Airbus stands in terms of Qatar Airways' future fleet plans. In late May, the airline placed a significant order for 160 planes, comprising 130 Boeing 787s and 30 777Xs. The agreement also includes 50 options for either plane type. What do you think of the airline cancelling its MAX 10 order? Let us know by leaving a comment.