Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad International) has said it will temporarily park its fleet of ten A380-800s, just days after its regional rival Emirates (EK, Dubai International) resumed operations of the type.
"The airline has taken the decision to ground its fleet of Airbus A380s as it is not commercially or environmentally justifiable to operate such a large aircraft in the current market," the carrier said in a press release touting the carrier's pro-environmental credentials.
Qatar Airways said that its research had shown that the A380s emit around 80% more carbon dioxide per block hour in comparison to its A350-900s and A350-1000s, increasing to 95% on some routes.
"Until passenger demand recovers to appropriate levels, Qatar Airways will continue to keep its A380 aircraft grounded, ensuring it only operates commercially and environmentally responsible aircraft," the airline said.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, Qatar Airways operates thirty-four A350-900s and fifteen -1000s. The airline's widebody passenger fleet also entails thirty B787-8s, seven B787-9s, nine B777-200(LR)s, forty-eight B777-300(ER)s, six A330-200s, and twelve A330-300s. It has a further twenty-seven A350-1000s, twenty-three B787-9s, ten B777-8s, and fifty B777-9s on firm order from manufacturers.
Meanwhile, Qatar Airways has said it would follow up with its earlier complaint to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in which it pleaded with the body to help force the end of the blockade of Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt. While ICAO had already ruled the blockade was in violation of the Chicago Convention and the International Air Services Transit Agreement (IASTA) in June 2018, the blockading countries subsequently challenged ICAO's jurisdiction in the International Court of Justice.
On July 14, 2020, the ICJ rejected appeals and confirmed that ICAO had jurisdiction over the matter. The decision is final.
"They have arbitrarily prevented us from serving hundreds of thousands of passengers and transporting tens of thousands of tons of cargo to and from each of these countries annually. In line with the ruling of the ICJ and the legal precedent allowing the State of Qatar to continue its case at ICAO against the blockading States, Qatar Airways will pursue its case for appropriate compensation of the financial injuries inflicted on Qatar Airways as a result of the illegal airspace blockade. The arbitrary and abusive measures that these four States have taken against us have devastated our carefully planned decades-long programme for investment and growth in those countries," Qatar Airways said in a statement, saying that it would pursue all available legal remedies to secure full compensation.
Qatar Airways has blamed the blockade, which prevented it from operating around 20% of its pre-blockade capacity and has forced it to fly longer routes on many longhaul sectors, for losses suffered in 2018 and 2019.
