[AB123456]

At least some consumers of BA will get to check out QA’s IFE, business class seating and perhaps then will demand it from BA for flights to Spain, Greece and further afield. Which means that they can bring back the sandwiches as now there will be a superior product compared to Easyjet & Ryanair which is a race to the bottom.

[Brian]

I understand that 9 Qatari A320s will be arriving at Heathrow on Friday evening (between 1445 and 2140lt).

[mkcol74]

Thanks @AMcWhirter

[Flightlevel]

Confirmed,from a horses mouth!

[FDOS_UK]

I wonder which ones they will send and if they will be reconfigured with all Y seating, otherwise BA may end up paying out for quite a few downgrades due to the low number of J seats installed – or will the company brazen it out, keep the middle seat free in some Y rows and claim it is still CE?

Also, QR tried to start up Al Maha Airways in KSA, but it never commenced operations and a legacy of that effort is a small subfleet of A320s (4 IIRC) painted in green and with dense seating – these would suit BA very well and some people’s experience of a QR operated flight may not be as good as they expect.

[AMcWhirter]

@flightradar24 has tweeted to say that three QR A320s are already en route for LHR.

A later tweet says “another five are expected to leave DOH between 11 and 13 UTC.”

[AMcWhirter]

[quote quote=816572]I understand that 9 Qatari A320s will be arriving at Heathrow on Friday evening (between 1445 and 2140lt).[/quote]

The first of QR’s A320s was overflying Romania a couple of hours ago with the second and third some distance behind.

So the initial A320 arrival time of 1445 appears to be accurate.

[openfly]

Willy might make promises….I bet most of the LBAs get cancelled, they usually are!

[FDOS_UK]

So far, no green ones 🙂

[AMcWhirter]

If you follow @flightradar24 you will now see that the first A320 is (or maybe already has by now) landed at LHR.

The others are following from DOH.

[AMcWhirter]

The govt has given the green light.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40459532

[mkcol74]

Given that Heathrow is pretty much full, any idea how they managed to get landing slots at such short notice?

[FDOS_UK]

Ah, the last one will be an Al Maha greenie.

[goalie11]

FDOS, I have travelled on those Al Maha aircraft from DOH to DWC and all of them have had proper short/medium haul business class seats in 2-2(branded First)the same as Qatar’s main fleet, EY and TK on the 320/321 fleet. Not sure if the whole fleet are configured the same.

[FDOS_UK]

[quote quote=816739]FDOS, I have travelled on those Al Maha aircraft from DOH to DWC and all of them have had proper short/medium haul business class seats in 2-2(branded First)the same as Qatar’s main fleet, EY and TK on the 320/321 fleet. Not sure if the whole fleet are configured the same.

[/quote]

Goalie, I’ve travelled in them too and you are right in what you say, but consider two things

1 – there may not be enough 2×2 seats for all CE

2 – the Y seats are much tighter density than the biz seats (though okay, by BA standards)

My point wasn’t that the aircraft are very bad, just that if you are expecting a mainline QR A320, a green meanie might disappoint.

[Author]

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