Qatar Airways Dreamliner Flies Again; On Board With CEO Al Baker

On Wednesday, Gulf Business was invited to join a select few media on the first Qatar Airways’ Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight since the plane was grounded in January due to serious battery problems.

Below is a live blog from the day:

Today’s flight will fly between Dubai and Doha, ahead of the airline’s plans to restart flying the beleaguered planes to London on May 15.

Also on board will be the the airline’s outspoken CEO Akbar Al Baker, the mastermind behind Qatar Airways, the Gulf region’s second largest airline behind UAE-owned Emirates (just don’t tell Al Baker that!).

Send your questions about the Boeing Dreamliner to [email protected] or @gulfbusiness on twitter.

Keep checking back for the latest updates from 4pm today as we take to the skies in the world’s most debated plane of late, with one of the world’s most talked about CEOs.

The Dreamliner aircraft suffered a series of glitches early this year culminating in a global alert from the US Federal Aviation Administration (USFAA) regarding two incidents involving the battery packs.

All operational 787s were grounded in January after smoke was detected mid-air on a flight in Japan.

That incident happened just days after the lithium-ion battery pack caught fire when a JAL-operated plane was parked at Boston’s Logan airport.

Now the USFAA has approved Boeing’s redesigned battery system for the 787s and says the glitches were non-hazardous.

A Boeing 787 operated by Ethiopian Airlines flew safely from Ethiopia to Kenya last week, the first commercial flight since air safety authorities grounded the aircrafts.

A storm in a tea cup? Several thousand cancelled flights later, and I doubt the owner airlines of the world’s 50 grounded Boeing 787s would agree.

Live Blog

4.05pm

Mr Al Baker says Boeing is responsible for the airline’s muted expansion plans. “I wanted to launch 15 routes this year, now I can only launch 10. I am very unhappy,” he says.

4.10pm

The CEO says he has no plans for an IPO. “We are not out of the recession yet. Once we are, there will be lots of money for big IPOs such as Qatar Airways.”

4.12pm

“In every new product there will be continuous new improvements, so there will be new batteries. And I’m sure that Boeing will look at having new batteries, not just Lithium.”

“There could be change down the line.”

4.13 pm

“I’m not a football fan, although my country clearly is,” says Al Baker.

4.15 pm
“The West criticises our worker rights record, but they do this only because they want to stop Arab progress. The West would love to ban unions because they are responsible for Europe’s jobless problem.

“Yes, I am a fan of the British ex-Prime Minister Thatcher. And, you know what, a prominent Labour politician told me that he too would like to see the back of unions.”

Could that be Middle East-ite Mr. Tony Blair, perhaps?

4.25pm

Al Baker says: “People have confidence in Boeing we have confidence in Boeing. We wouldn’t be flying the aeroplane if it was not safe.

“We will never put our passengers in an unsafe aircraft and, to prove to the people that the aircraft is absolutely safe, it has been tested time and time again. It has thousands of hours of tests and, therefore, the aircraft has been re-certified.

“The Dreamliner is so safe, I’ll fly with you today, and anytime. I really do believe it is one of the safest planes and the battery problem will not happen again, and even if it did, it would be very limited and not affect safety.”

And with that, we were off, and the Qatar Airways’ 787 Dreamliner returned smoothly to the skies for the first time since its epic grounding in January.

Post flight

While one of the Dreamliner’s perks is its in-air wifi access, the Dubai-Doha route did not reach the heights necessary to support net access (10,000 metres according to the cabin crew).

So post-flight, I’m pleased to say the journey was thoroughly enjoyable – quiet, luxurious and, most of all, safe.

Al Baker was in good spirits and clearly relieved to see the $200 million planes back in business, despite the naysayers.

The CEO also told reporters he would not be cancelling any orders or deliveries as yet, despite the battery glitches.