The aeroplane nobody wanted... :-(

UPDATE: Cargolux Refuses Delivery of 1st Boeing 747-8F   

The saga of Cargolux's sudden refusal of its 747-8F cargo aircraft takes a strange turn as fingers are pointed at Qatar Airways.

Qatar bought 35% of Cargolux on September 9th 2011, just a week and a half before the European cargo carrier pulled its lawyers out of Seattle and Chicago, Boeing's 747 assembly plant and headquarters, and refused delivery of the first two 747-8Fs off the production line.

Qatar's Chief Executive, Akbar Al-Baker, known for being very vocal when he's not happy, is allegedly behind the sudden turnaround. Qatar is currently seeking compensation from Boeing for delays in the 787 passenger airliner, of which Qatar has ordered 30 with options of an additional 30, and insiders at the ISTAT conference in Barcelona say Al-Baker considers the compensation agreed with Cargolux for the 747-8F performance shortfall sets the bar for the compensation due to Qatar for its tardy 787 deliveries.

Cargolux has said it doesn't want the first couple of 747-8Fs after all because they are known to be overweight and under-performing. Boeing has said that it will retrofit improvements to Cargolux's aircraft but it wants planes further down the assembly line which will benefit from these improvements at build-time, not retrofitted.

Keeping in mind that Cargolux have known about the performance shortfall for some time (over a year), it seems like Qatar are leveraging their minority controlling stock holding to cause hassle for Boeing and set up some more-agreeable compensation terms for their 787s.

The performance of the 747-8F still makes it the fastest and most fuel-efficient freighter in the skies, but by a smaller margin than previously advertised.

The plot thickens...