The situation escalated at the end of January, when the manufacturer took the decision to cancel an order.
No appeasement in sight in the dispute which has pitted Qatar Airways against Airbus for months. The manufacturer asked the British courts on Monday, seized since January, to impose a fine of 220 million dollars on the company for refusing to take delivery of two A350s. This has angered the latter, who accuses Airbus of making no effort to resolve this dispute.
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She decided to nail a new A350 to the ground, bringing the number of immobilized aircraft to 22 out of 53. Qatar Airways has been claiming for weeks compensation of 618 million dollars, together with a penalty of 4 million per day of immobilization, to Airbus. The situation escalated at the end of January when the manufacturer took the extremely rare decision to cancel an order for 50 A321neos from Qatar Airways, in application of a standard practice in aeronautics, known as “cross clauses”.
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It provides that a default – the refusal to take delivery, for example – by a customer on the terms of a contract gives the builder the right to renegotiate or terminate other contracts with the same customer. At the origin of the litigation, the rapid deterioration of the surfaces of the fuselage of certain A350s. Airbus recognized the problem and provided a solution, certified by the European (EASA) and American (FAA) regulators. They inspected the planes and found that flight safety was not compromised.
For its part, Qatar Airways believes that this is a design flaw. The other companies that have A350s have applied the remedies and are flying their planes. In the background of this dispute, the sluggishness of international long-haul traffic, on which Qatar Airways depends.