DUBAI (Reuters) -The CEO of flydubai said on Wednesday the carrier had picked Airbus A321neo jets at the Dubai Airshow this week because of their range and size, but did not rule out a further order from long-time supplier Boeing.
Ghaith Al Gaith said in an interview that the door had always been open to Airbus since the airline’s 2008 debut, but described Boeing as “my home” and said the U.S. planemaker would emerge stronger from its recent crisis.
“The door was never closed, because whenever we go through a process of evaluation, we put everything on the table, and I believe that whenever you make an order, of that magnitude, you have to scale or you have to evaluate it on the basis of its merits,” Al Gaith said.
Airbus on Tuesday won a provisional order for 150 A321neo jets from flydubai worth $24 billion, with an option for a further 100 aircraft, ousting Boeing as exclusive supplier to the fast-growing carrier.
He declined, however, to say whether flydubai would announce a further order for Boeing jets at the November 17-21 air show. “We cannot say for certain what we’re going to announce”.
“Boeing to me is almost like my home. And I’m very close with the leadership in Boeing,” the carrier CEO said, adding that he saw the planemaker’s “dynamics” improve recently.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher, Federico Maccioni and Ahmed Elimam, Editing by Louise Heavens)
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