Doha

QATAR Airways chief executive officer Akbar Al Baker lashed out at Airbus for the second time this month, warning his airline might stop taking deliveries from the planemaker this year over an unspecified "serious" issue.

"We have an issue with Airbus we need to settle, and if we are not able to settle that serious issue we have with them, we will refuse to take any aircraft from them," he said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.

Problems with Qatar Airways, he warned, will cause Airbus "a stress in the relationship with IAG, with LatAm, with other airlines in which we have a shareholding".

The subject of the spat? "I unfortunately cannot tell you what that issue is," Mr Al Baker said.

Airbus would not say either. A spokesperson for the Blagnac, France-based company said it is in constant discussions with customers about their requirements, and that details on those discussions "remain confidential". The warning comes days after the airline chief criticised Airbus's giant A380 jets over their inefficiency and operational cost.

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However, he said his dissatisfaction with that aircraft was "water under the bridge" and not the subject of the latest dispute.

The Qatari carrier has leaned on its diverse fleet to keep flying during the pandemic and expects to service more than 140 destinations by mid-summer.

Smaller planes have allowed the carriers to fly with fewer passengers amid the Covid-19 pandemic. It has even added a handful of new routes to its roster, including Seattle and San Francisco.

Staying in the air has not come cheap. Mr Al Baker said the airline had accepted US$3 billion in support from the Qatari government since the start of the pandemic. The state-run carrier received its first injection of aid after its losses topped 50 per cent of share capital last year.

Qatar is expecting to take delivery of planes from Airbus and Boeing this year, Mr Al Baker said, after a strident campaign to defer deliveries from both companies last year.

He also said the Doha-based carrier will be the launch customer for Boeing's highly anticipated 777x in 2023, backtracking on comments made just last week saying it would not. Qatar Airways has ordered 60 of the new model, which is being billed as the "world's largest and most efficient twin-engine jet".

The forced landing of a Ryanair jet flying over Belarus "is something (that) should have never happened," Mr Al Baker said. He warned it could "create a precedent" for other countries. Still, Qatar Airways is not stopping flights over the country.

"As far as we are concerned, for us (it's) business as usual." Acquisitions are on hold for now, beyond an ongoing investment in Rwandair that was announced in early 2020.

"I don't think it is the right time to invest in any carrier," Mr Al Baker said, he said, citing ongoing uncertainty around the pandemic. The situation is so "unpredictable that we don't know how to plan what we will do from (this) year to the next".

Qatar is still considering a long-discussed investment in Indian carrier Indigo when "the conditions are correct". Before the pandemic, Qatari officials had projected that as many as 1.5 million people could visit the tiny Gulf country for the 2022 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament.

"Don't dispute" that number, with vaccinations in full swing and drug therapies to treat Covid-19 in development, said Mr Al Baker, who is also head of Qatar's National Tourism Council. BLOOMBERG