A350 grounding - what is the longer term solution beyond re-utilising A330s?
 

Getting pretty annoyed with the roulette lottery of airplane swaps especially the A330s with sub-par product being used on many routes. Any idea what is the (planned) longer term solution beyond just re-utilising a sub-par aircraft (A330) to meet capacity demand?

The Y product on the A330 is really far below the competition at this stage with no USB / power plugs etc, really horrible IFE screen....some routes such as BKK sees 2 out of 3 daily flights with A333/332 with constant swapping of equipment....so it really is a big gamble, either you get a really good product on the A35K or dread the last minute swap on one of the old A333s on some routes.

Aren't QR and Airbus due in court soon? Maybe more will be resolved then..

Thought BKK had 2 A380 flights now?

LHR is twice daily, CDG and BKK both once a day.

I'm not sure relying on a successful outcome to a highly contested court case sounds like a longer term solution! The commercial relationship between QR and Airbus also seems to have largely broken down at a terrible time for QR when Boeing is really struggling to deliver long-haul frames that could serve as an alternative. I have a feeling if QR don't get the result they want the solution may have to be picking up some more second-hand aircraft like the CX frames.

Pretty sure the A350 problem is a long "war" between airbus and QR. What QR can do:
- Bring the remaining 5 A380 back, put them into routes that travel demands rebounce significantly such as BKK, LHR, CDG, or even Australia routes to increase capacity
- Refurbish the existing A330, installing super wifi and usb plugs
- Lease more ex-CX 777-300ER from BOC Aviation, CX demands still remain low, even though restrictions in HKG is slightly lifted. Probably the A350 should be enough to fit all passengers in most flights.
- Leasing A330 from Finnair is a possible solution, as Finnair suspend many flights due to the Russian war. But most of them are old cabin interior.
- Leasing 777-300ER from China Southern can be possible, as they are partners. They have newer 777-300ERs in their fleet.
- Leasing A320, A321 from Hong Kong express is also possible. QR has shares on CX and Hong Kong Express's parent company is CX. Hong Kong Express currently operates 2 aircraft out of 26. A320 and A321 should be able to operate inside the GCC area, 45 mins to an hour without IFE and wifi shouldn't be a huge problem.

What QR has done
- "Outsource" some destinations or flights to partner airlines such as AA, BA and Oman Air. However, staff shortages caused by high number of illness in Europe is also a big concern.
- "Outsource" some of their cargo flights to other airlines or lease cargo frames to operate their cargo flights. Some of them operated with a passenger aircraft in 2020, which can spare some of the aircraft return to passenger operations.
- Reduce or limited frequency in some destinations such as HKG and GVA that have less demand so that they can use less aircraft to serve the same amount of passengers and put the spare aircraft for higher demands such as US.

Hope the 787 deliveries can restart very soon, they can sort that out and bring as many passengers to their final destination especially during FIFA 2022.

QR have the A380 back to SYD from June 1

https://www.executivetraveller.com/n...ar-a380-sydney

I hope they bring the A380 back to MEL.

The A350 is a tricky situation. While QR is not the only airline to experience paint issues, they are the only airline to ground the planes. I suppose there is always the option of re-activating (repainting?) the A350s that are now grounded.

I have seen A380 on some routes

QR just resumed GVA in April (after a very long suspension, Emirates benefitted from it probably) , Intl organisation resumed their big meeting in GVA as WHO actually.
It will be really stupid to suspend it again...

AAB has really put himself in a corner.

A350s are in high demand given its size and 787 delivery problems. CX uses them and only leases 777s which are too big for QR needs. No more "small' A350s or 787s to lease and QR A380s are totally uneconomical in the current market.

QR A330s are subpar in all classes. It damages QR image.

My guess is that we need to wait for the legal resolution, whatever it is. Then QR can proceed.
Last month, AAB lost his bid to reinstate the A320 contract:
https://www.reuters.com/business/aer...up-2022-04-25/
Hence Airbus is now free to deliver QR A320s to others. One less QR lever.

It will be really interesting to know what their plans are for November.
As an example, look at the small number of daily flights between the UAE and Qatar. Many people will want to be transiting between the two countries during the World Cup. Forgot the extortionate flight prices, as right now there aren't anywhere near enough daily flights. So it'll be interesting to see what they do here.
The obvious solution would be to allow the likes of Fly Dubai, Emirates etc more slots but I have a feeling they don't want to give any advantage to their competitors. In the case of Emirates, they are still to resume flights to DOH since the end of the blockade.

Isn't the Qatar Emir on an European trip at the moment?

Scandinavian airlines (Finair, SAS) are in trouble because of the conflict in Ukraine; they have a number of widebodies that are no longer needed. Just the other day the SAS CEO said that they don't need widebodies at the moment; flights to Asia are not feasible and they are better off with the long range A320/321s for TATL flights.
I suppose there would be an opportunity there for QR

One point some have skipped over in this thread is that for most carriers this was a business case of "lets get it fixed and move on", not dig in and fight it. In my opinion it was a misstep by the Qatari government when their regulator stepped in and took a stand and caused the grounding. Other airlines could make their moves based on the need to keep business going, whereas QR is now stuck with the weight of their own regulator having taken a position that may prove difficult to walk back.

This leaves QR worse off with options on how to handle this mess.

-A

I'm pretty sure they will reach a settlement - traffic is improving up and Qatar needs planes. Otherwise, trial is expected early 2023.