Dubai — Qatar Airways is seeking to renegotiate a $7.8bn order for Airbus narrow-body jets and could switch to bigger aircraft powered by alternative engines as part of a revised agreement. The Gulf carrier wanted to keep the deal for 80 of Airbus’s A320neos after refusing to take the first four aircraft because of glitches with their Pratt & Whitney turbines, CEO Akbar al-Baker said on Monday. It aimed to upgrade to the stretched A321neo variant as part of those deliberations. Qatar Airways was holding parallel discussions about moving to powerplants supplied by the CFM International alliance of General Electric and Safran in response to the engine performance issue, Baker said. Deliveries would start from 2018 if an agreement was concluded. "We are in negotiation with Airbus about how we can continue our relationship and keep our order on track," the CEO said. "We are also talking to them in order to have a substitute for the aircraft that we have cancelled. And we are also talkin...
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