Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Int'l) has suspended, with immediate effect, all flights to Benghazi following an incident in which Libyan protesters from the Ezzedine Al-Waqwaq brigade prevented some Bangladeshi passengers from clearing immigration. the passengers were then forced to return to the aircraft before being dispatched back to Doha Int'l. The protesters accused Qatar of having interfered in Libya's affairs and even threatened to shoot down any Qatar Airways plane that returned to Benghazi. The Qatari carrier has since confirmed that the four times weekly service has been suspended, claiming however, that is is for "commercial reasons". The Qatar Airways office in Benghazi has also temporarily closed.

Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Int'l) has denied it will be the launch customer for the next Boeing (BOE, Chicago O'Hare) 787 variant, the 323-seat 787-10X, despite expressing interest in it. In an interview with Reuters, CEO Akbar al Bakar, said that while his airline enjoyed launching aircraft, it was "not a supermarket". The stretched 787-10X will compete with the latest Airbus Industrie (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) offering, the A350-900, set to enter service in 2014. Singapore Airlines (SQ, Singapore Changi) announced last week it would sign up for thirty 787-10Xs on condition the project went ahead.

Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Int'l) has now taken delivery of all three new A330-200(F)s, A7-AFV (c/n 1350), A7-AFY (c/n 1386) and A7-AFZ (c/n 1406) and has fully replaced its Cargo division's fleet of three A300-600(F)s that have been withdrawn from service. Qatar Airways Cargo currently has four other B777-Fs with a fifth due next month.

GoAir (G8, Mumbai Int'l) has allegedly caught the eye of Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt Int'l), Emirates (EK, Dubai Int'l) and Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Int'l) as stakes in Indian airlines are fast becoming a hot commodity among international carriers. According to India’s Economic Times, the Mumbai-based airline "is in talks with German carrier Lufthansa and Dubai-based Emirates and Qatar Airways, among others." Go Air had appointed Wall Street investment firm, JP Morgan, to find it fresh investment capital following a change in foreign direct investment (FDI) laws that now permit foreign carriers to hold up to 49 percent equity in Indian airlines. The announcement comes shortly after Qatar Airways boss, Akbar Al Baker, talked about a codeshare deal with IndiGo Airlines (6E, Delhi Int'l) but said that his airline "had not the money to go around buying shares" in airlines. The revised investment laws coupled with a more flexible Bilateral air services agreement between the UAE and India, have given the capital-rich Emirati carriers fresh impetus to establish a firm foothold in the subcontinent through share-acquisitions with Etihad Airways (EY, Abu Dhabi Int'l) having recently bought a 24% stake in Jet Airways (9W, Mumbai Int'l).

Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Int'l) says it is planning to deploy "ten narrow-body aircraft" onto its planned Saudi Arabian domestic operation set to commence operations out of hubs in Riyadh and Jeddah later this year. In addition, the airline will operate under a different name, Qatar Airways CEO, Akbar Al-Baker, has confirmed. The winner of the other licence, Gulf Air (GF, Bahrain), has yet to make public its plans, understandable given the state of its ongoing restructuring program. To cope with the anticipated upsurge in passenger numbers, the Saudi General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) is spending billions on upgrading the kingdom's airports though local players think otherwise, among them the CEO of nasair (Saudi Arabia) (XY, Riyadh), Francois Bouteiller, who claims the entrance of Qatar Airways and Gulf Air will be “chaotic” due to "insufficient infrastructure" in the kingdom.