British Airways to lease Qatar Airways A330s

British Airways has applied for regulatory approval to wet-lease three Airbus A330s from Qatar Airways in order to overcome schedule disruption caused by Boeing 787 engine maintenance.

BA requested permission to wet-lease the three aircraft between 1 June and 30 September to "support passenger operations" as it deals with the "impact of aircraft availability within its own fleet as a result of issues surrounding the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 Package C engine".

BA seeks to justify the leasing of aircraft from a non-EU carrier on the basis of "exceptional needs". Qatar Airways owns a 20% stake in BA parent IAG.

Currently British Airways has eight 787-8s in service and three on order, 16 787-9s in service and one on order, and 12 787-10s on order.