Airbus should upgrade its short-haul airliners with new engines to beat competition from Bombardier and Boeing, according to Qatar Airways.

Qatar Airways chief executive officer Akbar al-Baker said that geared-fan engines from Pratt & Whitney would provide a challenge to Bombardier’s CSeries jet.

“If it were in my hands I would make sure that Airbus launched it sooner rather than later,” he said.

“This development would put them at least ten years ahead of the competition on the single-aisle aircraft and most definitely kill the CSeries programme.”

Airbus director of market analysis Andrew Gordon was quoted by Bloomberg as saying that the manufacturer is considering a re-engining of the 320 series.