Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad Int'l) will receive its first A350-1000 by year-end, the airline's Chief Executive Akbar al-Baker has said.

"Airbus has assured us we would receive our airplanes, though late, but we will receive it before the end of the year," he was quoted by Reuters.

As the type's launch operator, the Qatari carrier has a total of thirty-seven A350-1000s on order from the European manufacturer.

Al Baker's comments are a reaffirmation of those made by Qatar Transport Minister Jassim Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti last week concerning the carrier's decision to maintain aircraft deliveries despite it being banned from both the airspace and markets of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain.

“We are continuing and maybe we’ll go faster,” he told Bloomberg.

Qatar Airways currently operates nineteen A350-900s.