The showdown between Qatar Airways and Airbus continues. This Monday, February 28, the national airline of Qatar accuses the aircraft manufacturer of blocking efforts to settle their dispute over the defects of the A350s and announces that it has grounded another aircraft. In total, 22 A350s out of the 53 it owns are immobilized.
Waiting for a court decision
Qatar Airways accuses Airbus of not taking action in the face of the rapid deterioration of the surfaces of the fuselages of its planes, in clear paint problems. “Neither Qatar Airways nor its legal team are aware of any efforts made by Airbus to attempt to resolve the situation amicably,” the company said in a statement. “In reality it is quite the opposite”, she added, saying she was reacting to remarks by the CEO of Airbus, Guillaume Faury, having assured that the European manufacturer was trying to “resolve the situation amicably”, parallel to the legal proceedings. Qatar Airways, which has refused to take delivery of several additional A350s due to the dispute, said it is determined to get British justice to impose on Airbus ae “conduct a full, adequate and transparent investigation into the accelerated degradation of the surface” of this plane. Qatar Airways claimed compensation of $618 million (more than 550 million euros), accompanied by a penalty of 4 million (3.6 million euros) per additional day of immobilization of its A350s, ordered by the Qatari air regulator.
Before the next hearing in April, Qatar Airways obtained an injunction preventing Airbus from canceling other contracts. For Airbus, which recognizes a degradation of the paint which could expose an integrated metal net – intended to protect the plane in the event of a lightning strike on its fuselage made of composite materials -, this situation has no consequences on safety in flight. The European Aviation Safety Agency, EASA, confirmed that these degradations did not entail any airworthiness risks.
With AFP