Qatar Airways chief concerned about Dreamliner safety

Qatar Airways chief concerned about Dreamliner safety

Qatar has placed orders for 60 Dreamliners - 30 firm and an option for 30 more.

December 12, 2012 8:35 by Reuters

Qatar Airways, which received its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner earlier this month, will take appropriate action against the planemaker if a recent manufacturing fault in the fuel line is not resolved, its chief executive Baker said.

U.S. regulators ordered the entire fleet of 787 jets to be inspected for a possible fuel line problem earlier this month, on the same day a brand new United Airlines Dreamliner with 184 people aboard was forced to make an emergency landing due to an undefined mechanical issue.

Baker said the incidents were a concern.

“It is very worrying for us because we are an operator. If it continues we will have to see what action we can take from the options contractually (available) with us.”

Qatar has placed orders for 60 Dreamliners – 30 firm and an option for 30 more.

The mechanical issues, while not uncommon for airlines, are another headache for Boeing – a company still working to overcome the negative perception of production problems that delayed delivery of the 787 by 3-1/2 years.

Baker also said Qatar Airways was still in talks with Canadian planemaker Bombardier to buy 10 corporate jets in a deal valued around $700 million.

The chief executive said in April the order was imminent, without specifying a time frame.

However, he said no talks were ongoing on the CSeries aircraft at the moment.

“It (CSeries jet) is interesting but we are not talking to them about it because we are too busy with our other programmes. Once we finish, we will talk to them about it,” said Baker.