Qatar Airways may order more A380 superjumbos

Qatar Airways board is discussing the possibility of ordering more A380 Airbus superjumbo planes, the airlines chief executive Akbar al-Baker told Al Jazeera.

The airline has five 555-seat double-decker planes on order and expects to order more, al-Baker said. He would not say how many the airline would order except that he was willing to consider Rolls Royce engines despite a recent blowout on a Qantas A380 jet.

Al-Baker was opening the new temporary arrivals terminal at Doha International airport on Saturday. Qatar Airways, which hopes to carry 16 million passengers in the financial year ending March, is one of the world’s fasting growing airlines and has planes worth about $35bn on order.

Each A380 has a listed price of $346m, according to Airbus.

Qatar Airways is on track to make its second consecutive year of profits and if the airline made a net profit in the third year, it would sell shares for the first time to the public as it seeks a stock market listing, al-Baker said.

We will have an extended version of al-Baker’s interview, including his thoughts on Boeing’s 787, Virgin’s possible sale, criticism from European carriers, and Qatar Airways’ expansion as well as the reason behind the need for a new terminal that could be in use for as little as one year.

The interview with Kamahl Santamaria will be on Counting the Cost on Friday, December 31.