Qatar Airways has put in the biggest single order so far at this year’s Paris Air Show with a firm order for 24 single-aisle Airbus aircraft in deal worth around $1.9bn.

The deal includes orders for 20 A320 aircraft and four A321 planes to be delivered by 2012.

Included in the deal is an engine order worth $700m made by International Aero Engines, a consortium of companies including United Technologies’s (UTX) Pratt & Whitney division, Rolls-Royce Group (RYCEY) of the UK and Germany’s MTU Aero Engines Holding AG (MTX.XE).

Qatar Airways already operates 19 Airbus single-aisle A320 family aircraft and is one of Airbus’s major customers in the Gulf.