Airbus has asked the UK High Court for $220 million in damages from Qatar Airways after
the airline rejected two Airbus A350 aircraft. The move is the latest in a long-running and
increasingly bitter feud between the two. The court claim for damages came after Qatar
Airways sued the company for $600 million over surface deterioration on more than 20
previously delivered A350 jets. Want to know about it?
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about “Airbus Asks $220 Million In Damages Over A350 Case.” So without any further
ado, Let's begin. Qatar’s state-owned airline is seeking compensation,
saying the flawed planes forced it to ground 21 of its fleet of 53 Airbus A350s in both
its 1000 and 900 series. Qatar’s national carrier raised concerns over the state of
its A350s in November 2020 when an attempt to repaint a five-year-old jet in World Cup
livery exposed about 980 defects. Qatar Airways is pressing for compensation
of $618m plus $4m a day and has stopped the receipt of 23 more A350s. Its legal case detailed
how the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority (QCAA) had started withdrawing flying permits for
individual A350 planes in a series of letters from June 2021.
It said the QCAA told Airbus the aeroplane’s deterioration was “disturbing, if not alarming”.
Airbus has said it will fight the claim, saying there is “no reasonable or rational basis”
for the groundings, which have not happened elsewhere.
It also noted that the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which has backed Airbus’
claim that there is no safety issue with the type, has not conducted a “thorough analysis”
of the situation, hinting at its position that the European regulator’s decision could
be motivated more by politics than technical issues.
Qatar Airways also listed other airlines that have raised concerns about the A350. These
include Finnair and Cathay Pacific, which already raised concerns about certain material
shedding back in 2016. The parties also disagree on whether Airbus has effectively probed into
the cause of the problem. The manufacturer proposed “a patch” for
an aircraft that Qatar said developed faults just a week after it was repaired. Qatar Airways
was rapidly expanding and had over 100 aircraft still on order with Airbus – including most
of the 80 A350s – when its operations were substantially impeded by a costly blockade
by other Middle Eastern countries in 2017. This blockade was only resolved early in 2021,
by which time the pandemic had engulfed the global air transport system and forced carriers
to slash capacity, particularly in the long-haul sector. Qatar sternly insisted that airframers
should not attempt to force delivery of aircraft on the carrier in the depressing climate.
The two sides also disagree over whether Airbus has adequately figured out the cause of the
issue, and found suitable solutions. The manufacturer proposed a patch repair for one aircraft which
Qatar said Monday exhibited failings after one week. In its own legal documents made
public Monday, Airbus said that the cancellation of a separate A321 order for Qatar Airways
won’t free up capacity for the oversubscribed model.
The planemaker said it builds some customer attrition into its business model. A judge
is set to rule next month on whether the A321 cancellation is allowed to stand. Airbus has
already provisionally added Qatar back into its plans, it said. It estimates it could
deliver the first aircraft around the fourth quarter of 2023, compared with an original
delivery date of February of that year. However, last week, a UK judge ordered Airbus
to delay its decision of rescinding a US$6 billion jet order from Qatar Airways of A321
jets. According to Reuters, the planemaker was asked to delay it for several weeks, preventing
it from allocating new early delivery slots to other airlines before an April hearing.
“In fact, the actual situation is to the contrary. Qatar Airways was surprised to see
Airbus’ latest efforts to attempt to terminate their own contractual commitment to establish
a full root cause analysis of the A350 Accelerated Surface Degradation,” Airbus said.
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