Qatar Airways (QA) said yesterday its expansion plans have been affected by the delayed delivery of Boeing Company's 787 Dreamliner and the airline is in talks over compensation. Ali Al-Rais, executive vice-president of the airline, said no new delivery deadline has been set yet. "They already know they have been at fault," he said. "They know that the standard clause will kick in." Qatar Airways, which has a fleet of more than 60 planes and has been rapidly expanding, has about 200 planes on order including 30 787 Dreamliners. Boeing pushed back the schedule for its troubled Dreamliner for the fourth time last month, making its new plane almost two years late. Rival plane-maker Airbus was forced to pay hundreds of millions in dollars in compensation after its A380 superjumbo fell two years behind schedule. Now Boeing may face similar claims from carriers affected by fresh delays. Yesterday, Al-Rais said the carrier expected to receive its A380 orders by 2011 to coincide with the opening of a new airport. The airline has ordered five of the world's largest passenger plane from Airbus. He added that he "wouldn't be telling the truth if I said we weren't having trouble financing... planes", but noted that a consortium of banks were still behind the airline. Al-Rais also said the Qatari carrier has not bid for Greece's state-owned Olympic Airlines. "We have never been interested in taking any other airline or any other ventures," he said. "We never bid for it." Last year, Greece said Qatar Airways was among companies that had expressed an interest in buying state-run Olympic Airlines group.
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