A ceremony held at the White House was the occasion to sign an order for Gulfstream aircraft, the finalisation of an order for Boeing 777 Freighters as well as MRO agreements with GE Aviation.
On July 9, three major companies of the aeronautics industry met Qatar Airways executives during a signing ceremony held at the White House. His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, Amir of the State of Qatar and the U.S. President Donald Trump attended the ceremony.
On occasion of this event the Qatari airline finalized a $1.8 billion order at current list prices for five Boeing 777 Freighters. The order was previously announced with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding at the Paris Air Show in June. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “This order will enable Qatar Airways Cargo to grow to become the number one global cargo carrier this year in both fleet and network and is a demonstration of our ongoing commitment to U.S. manufacturing.” The new freighters will complete a fleet already composed of 23 freighters and over 250 belly-hold cargo aircraft.
Boeing was not the only manufacturer to succeed in selling its aircraft to the airline. Indeed, Qatar Airways announced an order worth over $1 billion for 18 Gulfstream, 14 of which being G650ER and 4 more being G500. Those aircraft will join Qatar Executive’s fleet currently composed of six G650ER and four G500 aircraft. The Qatari group was the international launch customer for the G500 and took delivery of two aircraft in December 2018.
As regards the multiple agreements signed with GE Aviation, Qatar Airways selected the GEnx engine to power its 30 new Boeing 787-9 aircraft. The airline signed a TrueChoiceTM Flight Hour agreement to cover the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) of both GEnx and GE9X engines. The latter powering the sixty Boeing 777X fleet. The agreements are valued at over $5 billion. His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker said: “Qatar Airways has ambitious plans for the future and we are delighted to have GE beside us as we embark on this journey together. These contracts for the GE engines that will power our Boeing 787-9 and Boeing 777X aircraft further cement the strong relationship between Qatar Airways and GE.”