Qatar Airways is profitable and plans to keep expanding, CE Akbar Al Baker said Thursday. It plans to return to a pre-crisis network of 180 destinations and then resume prior expansion, he told a news conference. The airline says it has over 140 destinations now. However, Qatar Airways has been "damaged" by the grounding of some A350 jets in a dispute with Airbus, he said after a meeting of the Arab Air Carriers Organization in Doha. The airline said in August it had taken 13 A350s out of service because of problems with the surface of the fuselage.<br/>
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Royal Jordanian Airlines aims to make a decision on the renewal of its regional and narrowbody fleets by the end of the year in support of a long-term strategic plan which envisions a near doubling of the operation. CE Samer Majali, who in April returned to helm the carrier he first took leadership of two decades ago, told FlightGlobal during the Arab Air Carriers Organization’s annual general meeting in Doha today that it recently issued a tender covering 30 regional and narrowbody aircraft. Around two-thirds of the aircraft are for replacement purposes. “The regional and narrowbody fleet is quite dated, so we want to accelerate that hopefully within the next five to seven years. We are trying to get to double our size, or close to that.” Cirium fleets data shows Royal Jordanian has 14 Airbus narrowbodies, with build dates largely ranging from 2005 to 2012. It also operates four Embraer 175/195 regional jets, which entered service in 2007 and 2008. “We are looking at regional jets and narrowbodies initially, and then we will get to the widebody aeroplanes down the line,” Majali says. “We issued an RFP about a month ago and we are expecting the responses during this month and we will do the evaluation and hopefully make a decision before the end of the year.” The launch of the new long-term business plan marks a return to the front foot for the Oneworld carrier, which faced a challenging market even before the global pandemic.<br/>
Cathay Pacific expressed concern about a possible move by Hong Kong to rein in quarantine exemptions for aircrew operating cargo flights, saying it could reduce the number of available employees and disrupt the supply of goods moving in and out of the financial hub. The airline, Asia’s biggest cargo carrier, has been operating a full freighter schedule and a significant number of cargo services on passenger aircraft to ensure supply chains remain intact, it said in a statement Thursday. That’s in contrast to passenger operations, which remain subdued due to coronavirus travel restrictions. “Tightening the travel restrictions for aircrew operating cargo services would significantly impede our ability to continue to mount these important flights,” Cathay said. “This would seriously disrupt the supply chain and the flow of goods into and out of Hong Kong.” Hong Kong may restrict movement of local aircrew who are exempted from quarantine for several weeks after two Cathay pilots on cargo flights tested positive for Covid-19, the South China Morning Post reported earlier, without citing the source of the information. The latest infection could challenge the city’s zero-tolerance approach to the virus and its efforts to reopen its border with mainland China, which is also pursuing an elimination strategy. As one of the world’s top cargo airlines, Cathay moves an array of goods globally, from mobile devices to garments and fresh fruit and vegetables. It had 34 freighters in its fleet at the end of June. The airline has been operating on a so-called closed loop that calls for crew members to isolate at a hotel whenever they return to Hong Kong during their 21-day duty cycle. Once the three-week shift is over, they must self isolate for 14 days and then they have 14 days off.<br/>