Environment terror! Boeing flies seven new Boeing 787 aircraft to Doha to be returned within hours to the US.
Four new Boeing 787 aircraft purchased by Qatar Airways departed Boeing Paine Field (PAE) for Doha at December 26. After arrival at Doha, all four aircraft flew back to the United States, destination Victorville. The reason for these remarkable flights are not clear. Likely for financial reasons Boeing wanted to export the aircraft before the year end. Another reason is that Boeing wanted to have these aircraft delivered this year for performance reason. It could also be it was required for Qatar Airways to have these Qatar registered aircraft on the ground at Qatar for legal or finacial reasons.
The aircraft were ready for delivery for some weeks but the new next-generation Qsuites business class suites were not available for fitting into the cabin. It is rumoured in Victorville the Qsuite will be installed first. So that is why the aircraft returned to the US. It could also be the aircraft will be parked for a while at Victorville.
This all costs a lot of fuel and caused a lot of emissions. Qatar Airways has an environmental awareness page on their website, as does Boeing, so I’m not sure these flights fit into that.
The four aircraft involved were:
QTR3372 B789 A7-BHA Departure 17:00 PST
QTR3373 B789 A7-BHB Departure 17:50 PST
QTR3377 B789 A7-BHE Departure 18:27 PST
QTR3378 B789 A7-BHD Departure 18:51 PST
Looks like @qatarairways is taking delivery of several of their new @Boeing 787-9’s tonight. pic.twitter.com/N8IW7Yr0HP
— Woodys Aeroimages (@AeroimagesChris) December 27, 2019
All four aircraft stayed at the ground at Doha for around 10 hours before the flight back to the US.
Another three Qatar Airways Boeing 787 aircraft departed Boeing Paine Field (PAE) for Doha at December 28. Very likely these will fly to Victorville as well.
-A7-BHC https://www.flightradar24.com/QTR3350/2354f749
-A7-BHF https://www.flightradar24.com/QTR3380/23550b94
-A7-BHG https://www.flightradar24.com/QTR3388/2354ff0d
Details on the Boeing 787 delivery can be found in this spreadsheet.
More info at the onemileatatime.com.
Photo credit: Holden Riley @PlanesAtPaine
