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Qatar Airways said it’s poised to make a major jetliner purchase, adding to a backlog of more than 340 outstanding orders for Boeing and Airbus planes. The carrier will place a “large” aircraft order “soon,” CE Akbar Al Baker said Wednesday, without elaborating on the number or class of jets required. “Qatar Airways has a continuous plan of fleet expansion and fleet replacement in order to keep the average age of our fleet very young,” Al Baker said. Qatar Air’s order book includes 80 Airbus A320neos -- a deal that may be at risk after Al Baker declined to take delivery of the first planes because of engine cooling issues, saying that he was exploring the option of switching to Boeing’s 737 Max. The airline has also said it may help to renew the fleet of Italy’s Meridiana Fly after agreeing to buy a 49% stake. <br/>

Qatar Airways is at risk of reporting a loss this fiscal due to ongoing issues with Airbus’ A320neo and A350 programmes, group CE Akbar Al Baker said Wednesday. The airline has cancelled 2 more A320neo orders, Al Baker said, bringing the total number of cancellations to 3. Qatar Airways has refused to take delivery of the single-aisle jet since December over complaints the jet and its engine do not meet contractual obligations. Al Baker said the airline would “keep on cancelling” orders as each jet passes its delivery date. He previously said the airline was willing to walk away from as many as 5 A320neos. Qatar Airways is also in dispute with Airbus over deliveries of its A350s. Al Baker said Airbus has failed to deliver 5 A350s, which he said combined with the A320neo issues have had a “huge financial impact” on the airline. <br/>

Qatar Airways said Wednesday it continues to hold “absolute confidence” in IAG and that it is not seeking a board seat. The airline said Aug 1 it had increased its stake in IAG to 20.01% from 15.67%, making it the group’s largest sole investor. “We wouldn’t have increased our shareholding to 20.0% if we had the slightest question mark about their capabilities and their ability to run this group very efficiently,” group CE, Akbar Al Baker, said. Qatar Airways has also agreed to acquire up to 10%t of Latam, and to take a 49% stake in Meridiana. “We want to have partnerships in all major markets,” Al Baker said. “IAG is giving us this relationship in Europe and of course through their JVs across the Atlantic. Latam will give us access to another very large market in South America.” <br/>

American Airlines Group delayed one of the last major steps in fully blending its operations with those of merger partner US Airways, saying the work is more complex than originally expected. The airline doesn’t have a new target date for integrating operations for its flight attendants, which had been set for spring of 2017, a spokesman said Wednesday. American can’t reap all the potential cost savings from the deal until the carriers’ flight systems are fully meshed. Currently, flight attendants from the former US Airways can only work on planes from that carrier, with the same limits on the American side. Those restrictions, which also include pilots until the end of next month, prevent the carrier from matching the best aircraft to each route and responding faster to flight disruptions. <br/>