* Qatar Aiways CEO says ordered Boeing to fill Airbus gap

* Says to keep exercising cancellation clauses on A320neo

* Says Meridiana deal completed by start of 2017

 

 Qatar Airways said it was not hopeful it would get all 12 A350 planes it is supposed to receive this year from Airbus after supply chain problems hit deliveries of the widebody jet.

"I don't think we will get them. That's why we ordered Boeing, which we will start getting next year, to fill the gap with the Airbus deliveries," Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said, referring to an order placed earlier this month for up too 100 Boeing jets.

Qatar Airways has received four of the jets so far, Airbus figures show. The plane maker said on Wednesday it was "working towards" meeting its target of more than 50 A350 deliveries in 2016.

Al Baker also said he would continue to keep exercising cancellation clauses on deliveries of A320neo jets after engine problems. Engine maker Pratt & Whitney has started shipping engines with modifications, but Al Baker said he wanted to see the engines in operation for a year or two first.

"I have to be convinced. I want others to operate them and convince me it is ok. Putting a band aid on a big wound doesn't mean it is fixed," he said on the sidelines of the CAPA Global Summit in Amsterdam.

He also said he now expected a deal to buy a 49 percent stake in Italian carrier Meridiana to be completed by the beginning of next year, saying certain conditions still had to be met.

Union officials have said the deal would see the loss of about 400 jobs and a 20 percent wage cut compared with the pay stipulated in national collective contracts for the sector.

"We are not a charity organisation. We are not there to create jobs, people have to earn them," Al Baker said.

Qatar Airways expect talks with the European Union on new air traffic services agreements will take several years, and Qatar will focus on ensuring the EU's planned fair competition clauses do not disadvantage the carrier, its CEO said.

"We're still in the early days of negotiating with the EU, and one area of particular notice is fair competition clauses," Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker told the CAPA Global Summit in Amsterdam.
"We expect we will spend quite a bit of time exploring what this means, we want to make sure it is not biased," he said.
The European Commission said last year it wanted to seek Europe-wide air traffic agreements with a number of countries including China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar. It said it would look to include fair competition provisions and would also consider measures to address unfair practices outside the bloc.
Such agreements, at the moment often done on a bilateral basis, would set out where and how often foreign airlines could fly into the EU, and vice versa.
Al Baker said while he welcomed the EU talks, which he hoped would open up markets fully to Qatar Airways, he was concerned that protectionist tendencies were coming through.
"I am fine when it comes to dealing with everybody fairly, but when you target the Gulf carriers, ASEAN, Turkey, it proves that people like myself are being targeted," he told the conference.