(Boursier.com) — Airbus wins the first round of his legal battle with qatarairways. British justice has just authorized the European aeronautics giant to cancel the order for 50 A321neos from the Qatari company. The canceled contract was concluded ten years ago and then represented $4.6 billion at list prices. It was then modified to integrate 10 copies of the new version of the A321. The High Court in London ruled that Qatar Airways could find alternatives to the A321 and that damages would be an adequate remedy for the carrier. Airbus has argued for a “cross-default” clause that allows it to void an agreement if one customer fails to honor another.
The two groups have been at odds for months over another Airbus model, the A350. In this dispute, separate from that concerning the A321s, Qatar Airways, part of the A350s of which are grounded by the Qatari aviation authorities, is claiming more than 600 million dollars in compensation from Airbus, arguing design flaws in these planes. . The company has refused since last June to receive other A350s and claims to have observed a accelerated wear of the paint on some of the devices already received.
Airbus, for its part, acknowledged the existence of technical problems, but denied any safety problems. 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 aircraft design authority but does not issue permits to fly in the EU, has previously said it has not identified any issues with the aircraft. safety on the A350s it has inspected. Qatar is currently the only country in the world to have grounded A350s. Documents seen last November by Reuters revealed that at least five other airlines have seen accelerated paint wear on some of the aircraft Airbus has delivered since 2016, but none of them have permanently nailed the aircraft to the ground. floor.
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