Qatar Airways to use natural gas |
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Qatar AirwaysQatar Airways
is not far away from becoming the first airline in the world to fly its airplanes using natural gas, according to its senior executive. "Qatar GasQatar Gas, Shell and Qatar AirwaysQatar Airways are currently talking to each other to finalise a plan for flying an aircraft on natural gas. We may announce further details during the Dubai Air Show next month.
Ours would be the first carrier in the world to use this technology," said Ali M Al Rais, Qatar AirwaysQatar Airways's general manager-commercial.
"Engineers and scientists are working tirelessly to make this happen and it will happen.The experiments are taking place in the labs. It is not something that we would say is impossible to do," he added.
He said that the two bodies Shell and Qatar GasQatar Gas are spearheading the whole project are currently in talks with engine makers such as RollsRoyceRollsRoyce and General Electrics (GE) to develop an engine for the aircraft that would run on natural gas.
Confirming this, RollsRoyceRollsRoyce's spokesperson told Emirates Today in a telephone interview from London: "Biofuel technology for aircraft is a part of the alternative project being run by Rolls-Royce.
We are talking to a lot of airlines regarding alternative fuel. Though there is no formal agreement in place with Qatar AirwaysQatar Airways, there may have been talks." When asked about how much savings Qatar AirwaysQatar Airways would be able to make with the natural gas, Al Rais said: "Savings would be significant.
I cannot say how much, but most engineers are of the view that it would make a big difference to the airline's costs.
Environmentally also it would make a lot of sense.
"But if fuel is expensive, gas is not getting cheaper either.
These are some of the technologies people are looking at worldwide, the other one being electrical planes. But that is far from where we are today."
Aircraft orders
Qatar AirwaysQatar Airways has 150 airplanes on order as of now and there are plans to announce more aircraft orders during the Dubai Air Show, according to Al Rais.
When asked if its order for 30 A350s would prevent the airline from ordering Boeing's 787s, he said: "We were a Boeing airline when we first started and later we shifted to Airbus. So, as an airline, we look at whoever is offering us first." The airline has orders for five A380s.
According to Al Rais, the airline may increase its order for the superjumbo, too.
"We are pleased that we ordered five A380s given the way we are modelling the airline - with a variety of products. The number could increase. The way we are strategising the company, we have to be very lean. The aviation environment is changing rapidly," he said.
More hubs
Air China: "When Air China starts flights to Dubai, it will be a total new groundbreaking move," said Al Rais, adding that the airline plans to use Dubai as its second hub. Air China has already revealed plans to create a second hub in Dubai in order to feed traffic from Asia to the Middle East and through to Africa.
Air Asia: Kuala Lumpur's low cost carrier, Air Asia, will soon start flying to the Middle East. It will be flying from Kuala Lumpur to Bahrain, using it as its second hub, into European cities.
"The airline is finalising its plans as we speak. If Bahrain will be a stopover for the airline, which is what it has said, then Bahrain becomes its hub," said Al Rais.
Slower growth
The growth rate for the Middle East airlines is going to slow down to about eight per cent in the next few years from the current 12 per cent, as airlines start travelling longer distances, according to Al Rais.
"The shorter an airline flies the passenger, the more revenues per kilometre it makes. But this is nothing to get worried about," he said.
By Shweta Jain
© Emirates Today 2007
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This, I guess will make Qatar Airways very cheap to fly and will make lots of profit as well.
It should encourage all Middle East Airlines to think of this as a solution. Probably to have two switch buttons like what Taxi Drivers do. One for Gas, One for Petrol :) [Report Abuse | Email to a Friend | Reply to this Comment]