Qatar Airways will soon place a sizeable order for wide-body jets to underpin its longer-term growth plans, the airline’s chief commercial officer told Reuters late on Monday.

“To secure the growth of tomorrow by continuing to have a very strong and the best fleet in the industry, our CEO is working on the RFP (request for proposal) with the aircraft manufacturer to place a big order soon,” CCO Thierry Antinori said.

He added that the contract would be announced soon, declining to say whether it will be signed with Airbus or Boeing or under a split deal with both.

At the Farnborough Air Show in July last year, CEO Badr Al Meer said a large aircraft order was under consideration.

Antinori told Reuters that the Qatari airline had recorded above-market growth in passenger numbers from April 2024 until January this year, up 9 percent throughout its network, up 14 percent in Europe and 12 percent in Germany.