Qatar Airways, as we reported this morning, filed a legal claim against Airbus in the British courts in London, alleging the lack of a satisfactory response to the problems detected in the exterior paintwork of its A350s, in what represented a new and particularly significant step in the escalation of the conflict between the two companies.
Hours later, Airbus confirmed receipt of the legal claim from Qatar Airways.
“Airbus is in the process of examining the content of the claim,” they said in a statement. “We intend to strongly defend our position,” they concluded.
The Doha-based airline has 23 of its 52 A350s grounded as a result of these problems, and hopes that the legal action will force Airbus to “address its legitimate claims without further delay”.
In filing the lawsuit, Qatar Airways had stated that it “strongly believes that Airbus must conduct an investigation into this condition to definitively establish its root cause. Without a proper understanding of it, it is not possible for Qatar Airways to ascertain whether any proposed remediation will rectify the actual underlying condition”.
In an interview conducted by Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post newspaper and published last Tuesday, Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al-Baker had said they expect to ground more A350s while accusing Airbus of having “destroyed” its business relationship with the airline.
“We can always let the water run under the bridge and move on. With Airbus, the damage is very severe. I don’t know how we can ever work with them again,” Al Baker had said sharply.
Two weeks ago Airbus said it was seeking outside legal advice to outline a strategy to resolve the dispute with Qatar Airways.
Between the two variants, there are more than 400 A350s in operation with some 30 airlines around the world. Only five have reported finding similar “cosmetic damage”, but none have moved to ground their aircraft.
