- Key Points
- Boeing secured an agreement to sell up to 210 aircraft to Qatar Airways.
- Qatar Airways also signed an agreement with GE Aerospace for more than 400 engines to power the Boeing planes.
- Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg appeared alongside President Donald Trump in Doha for a signing ceremony on the deal for the 787 Dreamliner and 777X planes.
- The deal could draw more scrutiny toward President Donald Trump’s defense of Qatar’s offer to gift the U.S. a luxury 747 jet that will act as the new Air Force One
U.S. President Donald Trump, Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg attend a signing ceremony in Doha, Qatar, on May 14, 2025.
Boeing
and Qatar Airways on Wednesday announced a deal for the Middle Eastern airline to buy up to 210 jets, notching the U.S. Planemaker’s biggest-ever order of widebody planes.
The order — the biggest in Qatar Airways’ history — includes a hundred thirty of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliners and 30 of its lots-not on time 777-9s, with options for as many as 50 more planes, the organizations said in a press release.
Qatar Airways additionally signed an agreement with GE Aerospace
for more than four hundred engines to strengthen the Boeing planes, the companies said in some other joint launch.
The purchase of widebody aircraft engines is the biggest in GE Aerospace’s records, consistent with the release.
During President Donald Trump’s country visit with the emir of Qatar as part of his 4-day Middle East tour, Boeing and Qatar Airways settled. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg appeared alongside Trump at the Amiri Diwan in Doha for the signing rite.
In a declaration, Qatar Airways CEO Badr Mohammed Al-Meer said, “This is a critical subsequent step for Qatar Airways on our direction as we make investments in the cleanest, youngest, and most green fleet in worldwide aviation.” “This is so we can meet the strong call for inside the airline as we seamlessly connect passengers to the arena better than anyone.”
Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stephanie Pope said the “record-breaking order” with Qatar Airways “solidifies their destiny fleet with our marketplace-leading widebody airplane family at its center.”
The 426-seat, dual-engine 777-9 is part of Boeing’s 777X series, which has yet to supply any deliveries and has no longer been licensed via the Federal Aviation Administration.
The aircraft deal changed into valued at $96 billion in advance on Wednesday, and the White House claimed that it’d guide 154,000 jobs within the United States every 12 months and more than 1,000,000 jobs all over the us of a. Boeing and Qatar Airways, however, said the deal will bring about roughly four hundred 000 jobs within the U.S.
Boeing’s website says it presently employs around one hundred and seventy 000 people globally.
“It’s the largest order of jets in the records of Boeing,” Trump stated after Ortberg signed the agreement at the Amiri Diwan.
The deal will be a boon for Boeing, which has not posted earnings considering that 2018.
The plane maker has been beset by means of major safety issues, manufacturing defects, price overruns, and a nearly month-long machinist strike final 12 months.
Its business dealings have additionally been disrupted by Trump’s trade war. China stopped accepting deliveries of Boeing planes to its airlines in reaction to U.S. Price lists, Ortberg stated closing month.
But the organisation has lately narrowed its losses as it addresses a backlog worth greater than $500 billion, Ortberg said in Boeing’s first-quarter earnings call.
“This is first-rate information for South Carolina and Boeing,” stated Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., calling the deal “a gamechanger.”
Graham’s office stated that the brand new planes can be assembled at Boeing’s Charleston facility.
According to Qatar Airways’ website, the deal that was introduced on Wednesday might nearly double the airline’s fleet of 233 planes. It may also draw extra scrutiny toward Trump’s popularity, and defense of Qatar’s provision to gift the U.S. A luxury 747 jet with the intention to act as the new Air Force One.
The move has been criticized by Democrats as corrupt and unconstitutional, and some of Trump’s Republican allies in the media and government have also voiced concerns.