Pandemic, aircraft development and legal disputes slow Qatar Airways growth plans

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Qatar Airways, through its super-connector hub in Doha, aims to have roughly 250 destinations by the end of this decade, up from around 160 today. The carrier’s original 2018 plan was to reach 250 destinations by 2022, but this was derailed by a global pandemic, delivery delays from Boeing and Airbus and the fall-out from a legal dispute with the latter.

Related: Air India joins aircraft boom, but history of airline busts loom

“The real impediment for [reaching 250 destinations] at the time being to us is the delays in deliveries of a very large number of airplanes that we have on order,” said the carrier’s group CEO Akbar Al Baker at a September 15 press conference in Seattle, referring to both technical and legal realities facing the airline.

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Jon Ostrower
Jon Ostrower is Editor-in-chief of The Air Current, where he leads coverage of the global aerospace and aviation industries. Prior to launching TAC in June 2018, Mr. Ostrower served as Aviation Editor for CNN Worldwide, guiding the network’s global coverage of the business and operations of aviation. Mr. Ostrower joined CNN in 2016 following four and a half years at the Wall Street Journal. Based first in Chicago and then in Washington, D.C., he covered Boeing, aviation safety, and the business of global aerospace. Before that, Mr. Ostrower was editor of FlightBlogger for Flightglobal and Flight International Magazine covering the development of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and other new aircraft programs from 2007 to 2012. He is also an instructor at the University of Southern California in the Viterbi School of Engineering's Aviation Safety and Security program. Mr. Ostrower, a Boston native, graduated from The George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs with a bachelor’s degree in Political Communication. He is based in Seattle.
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