Robust air travel demand seen; Qatar Airways looks to add more routes: Al-Baker

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive HE Akbar al-Baker has forecast robust travel demand for the rest of the year and said the national airline would look to add more routes, depending on how fast it gets new Airbus and Boeing jets.Addressing the media at the Arabian Travel Market conference in Dubai Monday, al-Baker said the total number of destinations could grow up to 190 from 177 destinations now, depending on the delivery of additional aircraft from the two manufacturers.The airline expects planemakers Boeing and Airbus to begin delivering soon."We have already bought a large number of new aircraft. We have already started taking delivery of our (Boeing) Max aircraft.Qatar Airways is also experiencing delayed delivery of Boeing 787 and 777X planes. All these are now in the pipeline. We were expecting to take delivery of a large number of 787-9 aircraft this year. The 787 delays had been caused by unnecessary concerns raised by the US regulator,” al-Baker noted.Al-Baker expects to begin receiving aircraft from Airbus as the national airline has settled its dispute with the European planemaker.Airbus in March reinstated an order for some 73 aircraft from Qatar Airways, which it had revoked during a major legal dispute over damage to the surface of grounded A350s.Al-Baker expects to begin receiving the aircraft in the "not too distant future".Boeing in February temporarily halted delivery of new 787 aircraft to conduct additional analysis of a fuselage component amid the FAA's concerns.Al-Baker said he did not expect higher oil prices and overall inflation to dent travel demand."I don’t think there will be any dent in travel demand because of higher oil price. At one time, the oil price had gone up to $150 a barrel, but the travel demand did not go down. The oil price had gone up by nearly 100% but the ticket price might have gone up by 5% because the airlines have imposed fuel surcharge on tickets. "Airlines have then absorbed a lot of fuel costs. But this always will not be sustainable. Because at the end of the day, as an airline we are responsible to our shareholder to give them a return on their investment. So we have had to make sure we have a cushion on the oil price, but not an unlimited cushion.”Al-Baker said the airline was "fighting with oil companies" to scale up the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in order to bring the price down to affordable levels.The airline aims to adopt the fuel, which has the potential to reduce its carbon footprint, or to use it in combination with conventional fuel, he added.