The head of Qatar Airways said Tuesday that the airline was delaying delivery of its first Airbus A380 by three months, to January 2014, as it awaited modifications to the superjumbo's wings to resolve a cracking problem identified this year.

"We don't want a fixed wing, we want a newly designed one," Akbar Al Baker, the airline's chief executive, told a small group of reporters here.

European safety regulators ordered inspections of the entire fleet of the 555-seat, twin-deck planes in February after a series of hairline cracks were found in a wing component of at least 30 of the aircraft, which entered service in 2007.

Airbus has scrambled over the last several months to modify the assembly process and to redesign an L-shaped bracket that connects the aluminum skin of the A380's enormous wings to its structural ribs, which are made of a combination of metal and lightweight, plastic-based composite materials. About 40 brackets - each about 8 inches long - are on each rib, with a total of 2,000 brackets spanning each wing.

European regulators recently approved a redesign that Airbus has said will prevent future cracking. But Airbus will not introduce the changes to its assembly lines until the end of this year. Until then, all 77 planes in service and another two dozen expected to be delivered in the next 12 to 18 months will require regular inspections for cracks and replacement of any damaged parts.

Airbus has said the changes could cost it over US$600 million.

Qatar Airways has placed orders for eight A380s and options for five more, with delivery dates extending to 2019. Mr. Al Baker, who has often been critical of Airbus, said he was confident the company would be able to deliver Qatar's first modified A380 within the revised time frame.

Mr. Al Baker's comments came on the second day of the Farnborough International Airshow, where Qatar Airways has been showing off its new 787 Dreamliner, a 250-seat twin-aisle jet built by Boeing, Airbus's American rival. Qatar has firm orders for 30 Dreamliners with options to buy 30 more.

Mr. Al Baker said he expected to receive five of the new Dreamliners, which are made largely of lightweight plastic composite materials, before the end of this year, with at least five more expected to join the fleet of the carrier, based in Doha, in 2013.

The 15-year-old Qatar Airways, the second-largest Persian Gulf carrier after Dubai-based Emirates, has been expanding rapidly. It operates a fleet of more than 100 planes and has orders for an additional 250 from Airbus and Boeing with a combined list price of more than US$50 billion.

Mr. Al Baker said he had no plans to announce new aircraft orders at the air show. He also sought to play down speculation that his carrier was considering an equity investment in a European passenger airline. Qatar Airways last year bought 35 percent of Cargolux, a freight carrier based in Luxembourg.

"We are quite satisfied with Cargolux and we do not need to make any more investments at this difficult time for aviation," he said. Any further expansion in the near term, he said, would more likely be code-sharing partnerships with other airlines.

A number of other airlines and lessors did announce new jet deals Tuesday.

Boeing said GE Capital Aviation Services, the aircraft leasing arm of General Electric, had committed to buying 100 single-aisle jets with a combined list price of more than US$9 billion. The agreement, which is not yet a firm contract, is for 25 of Boeing's 150-seat 737-800 jets and 75 of a version, known as the 737 Max, equipped with more fuel-efficient engines.

Alafco, a leasing company based in Kuwait, also committed to an order for 20 737 Max jets valued at US$1.9 billion, Boeing said.

Airbus, meanwhile, said Cathay Pacific Airways of Hong Kong had placed a firm order for the largest version of its forthcoming twin-aisle jet, the A350-XWB, the first since the European plane maker announced a major redesign of that plane a year ago. The order, for 10 A350-1000 jets, is valued at US$3.2 billion.

Cathay also plans to convert 16 previous orders for a smaller version, the A350-900, into the stretch variant, in a deal valued at an additional US$1 billion.

Airbus said last year that it would postpone delivery of the A350-1000 till mid-2017 in order to meet demands for a more powerful engine that would extend the plane's range and payload.

Mr. Al Baker said his airline expected to convert an order for 20 of the original A350-1000 jets into the souped-up version within the next 12 months. Qatar has 60 smaller A350s also on order.

"Airbus has made significant improvements, and we are confident the new design addresses our concerns," he said.