Qatar Airways to commit $15.2 billion

announced this week that it will shortly commit to the $15.2 billion purchase of a large fleet of

A350 and

777 aircraft. Qatar Airways CEO, Akbar Al Baker, said the order will be worth $10.6 billion to Airbus and $4.6 billion to Boeing.

The purchase of the Airbus A350 will be comprised of up to 60 A350-800 and A350-900 variants. Qatar Airways’ Airbus A350 aircraft will be delivered between mid-2010 and 2015, first to supplement and then replace the A330 as the airline’s small- to medium-size widebody aircraft.

Qatar Airways says it will use the A350 on flights ranging from short-haul regional services to long-haul operations to the Far East, Europe and North America from its operational hub of Doha.

Qatar Airways also intends to purchase at least 20 Boeing B777 aircraft in three variations, the B777-300ER, B777-200LR and B777-200F. The carrier says it intends to make the B777 the airline’s standard large widebody, with the B777-300ER likely to account for around half of the orders.

Qatar Airways’ initial B777 order will be delivered to the airline between 2007 and 2010. The B777-300ER will allow capacity growth on the airline’s growing and airport slot-constrained routes, whereas the B777-200LR will be allocated to new routes to North America and Australasia.