Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker has vented his frustration about more technical problems blighting his Boeing 787s after the airline's third aircraft suffered an electrical issue on its delivery flight and had to be grounded for repairs.
The carrier, which operated its inaugural long-haul 787 service on 13 December from its Doha base to London Heathrow, has received three 787s and will take two more before year-end.
Speaking at Heathrow following the flight from Doha, Al Baker described his frustration about the latest problem and warned Boeing that it had to raise its game. "Unfortunately our third 787 has the same [generator control unit] problem that diverted a United 787," he said. "Fortunately it was on a delivery flight, but the aircraft is grounded and I am very disappointed with Boeing. They have to get their act together very fast because we will not accept any more defects with our aeroplanes because we have waited too long for them."
Al Baker says that the 787 has been "on the ground" since 9 December but he hopes the fault will be rectified and it will be cleared to fly again by around 15 December. "We are happy with Boeing's reaction to our AOG situation," he says.
Qatar is due to receive five more 787s during 2013 and will gradually introduce the type across its network as the fleet expands. The aircraft is now operating daily flights to Heathrow and its next destination will be Perth. Other early European 787 destinations will be Frankfurt and Munich. 787 Flights to Tokyo Haneda and Osaka in Japan as well as to the USA are also planned, says Al Baker.
Source: Flight International
