Qatar Airways quietly retires Airbus A330 fleet, sends pilots to RwandAir

Dhaka: Qatar Airways has quietly retired its passenger Airbus A330 fleet, which accounted for 7% of the airline's capacity earlier this year, according to media reports published recently.

The move comes amid a rough year for Gulf carriers, with the Iran war denting local demand and discouraging transit passengers from routing through the Middle East.

The A330s were reportedly nearing retirement even before the conflict began. They had originally been scheduled for phase-out years ago but were retained due to delivery delays on newer aircraft needed to meet demand.

Qatar Airways operated 45 Airbus A330s over the past two decades, comprising 29 A330-200s and 16 A330-300s, with deliveries starting in 2002. The airline had also leased four additional A330s from Oman Air last year, though those aircraft reportedly never entered service.

A Qatar Airways spokesperson said retiring older aircraft while introducing newer, more efficient ones is a standard practice, adding that the airline expects to receive 138 new aircraft over the next five years.

With a pilot surplus following the retirement, Qatar Airways has offered some of its A330 pilots a voluntary secondment to RwandAir, a carrier with long-standing ties to the Doha-based airline. The East African carrier even acquired an ex-Qatar Airways A330 earlier this year.

Industry observers noted that with the A330 fleet gone, questions remain how long Qatar Airways will continue operating its comparatively small Airbus A380 fleet.