by Tim Hepher
PARIS, Jan 20 (Reuters) – Airbus has announced the cancellation of the contract for an order for 50 A321neos by Qatar Airways, a new stage in the dispute between it and the airline over another model, the ‘A350.
The European aircraft manufacturer confirmed this decision just hours after the announcement by British justice that the first hearing on this commercial dispute would take place during the week of April 26.
Qatar Airways, part of the A350s of which are grounded, is claiming more than 600 million dollars from Airbus, arguing design flaws in these planes.
“We confirm that we have indeed terminated the contract for 50 A321s with Qatar Airways, in accordance with our rights,” said a spokesman for the European aircraft manufacturer. The information was previously reported by Bloomberg News.
Qatar Airways, which did not immediately comment, is expected to contest the cancellation since the company said it was waiting for delivery of the A321s while refusing to take delivery of new A350s until the dispute with Airbus is resolved. rule.
The contract canceled by Airbus had been concluded ten years ago and then represented 4.6 billion dollars at list prices. It was then modified to integrate 10 copies of the new version of the A321.
The dispute between the manufacturer and Qatar Airways, which has lasted for several months, relates in particular to the degradation of the paintwork and the erosion of a protective layer, which the company considers to be design flaws.
Qatar Airways says its national regulator has ordered it to stop flying 21 of its 53 A350s because of the issues. Airbus, for its part, recognizes the existence of technical problems but denies any safety problem.
The Qatari company is claiming 618 million dollars (546 million euros) in compensation for the 21 immobilized aircraft, and an additional four million per additional day without a solution.
Airbus has rejected the complaint “in full” and accuses Qatar Airways, a public company, of having influenced its supervisory authority to obtain the immobilization of the planes concerned in order to obtain compensation.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which has authority over aircraft design but does not issue authorizations to fly in the EU, said it had not at this stage identified any safety issue on the A350s it inspected.
Qatar is currently the only country in the world to have grounded A350s.
(Report Tim Hepher, French version Marc Angrand)