Qatar Airways has announced plans to create a leasing arm through which it will cycle aircraft that have reached or exceeded five years in service.
The new company, called Oryx Leasing, has already been established but will not begin trading until around 2013, said Qatar CEO Akbar Al Baker. This is intended to coincide with the first deliveries of the Airbus A350s.
The first aircraft to be disposed of will be the A340-600s of which the airline has four. Al Baker also forecast that the carrier would return to profitability by about 2010/2011.
Qatar currently has 182 aircraft on order or option, including up to 80 A350s, 60 Boeing 787s, 31 777s, three A330-200s, three A321s and five A380-800s. With the introduction of the 777-300ER, the first of which was delivered recently, the current fleet stands at 59 aircraft.
Qatar also recently celebrated the arrival of the first Boeing airplane to join the airline’s fleet with the arrival of its new flagship 777-300ER. Qatar has ordered a total of 27 777s with options for five additional planes. Qatar also has ordered 30 787 Dreamliners and holds 30 options.