Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad International) could soon place an order for new widebody aircraft, according to the company’s chief commercial officer Thierry Antinori.

He told Reuters that the chief executive, Badr Mohammed Al Meer, is working on a request for proposals (RFP) with the aircraft OEMs for a “big order”. Qatar Airways is expected to close the deal for the new jets next month.

The CCO declined to comment on whether the new aircraft would come from Airbus, Boeing, or both, or how many aircraft it would comprise. Al Meer punted a new widebody order at the Farnborough Air Show in July 2024, but not much was revealed about the company’s fleet plans.

According to ch-aviation fleets module, Qatar Airways currently operates 259 aircraft, mostly widebodies except for twenty-eight A320-200s and nine B737-8s. The company has 198 aircraft on order – fifty A321-200Ns, eighteen A350-1000s, twenty-five B737-10s, eleven B787-9s, sixty B777-9s, and thirty-four B777-8Fs. It is also planning to add another second-hand B777-300ER currently operating for Cathay Pacific.