Qatar Airways’ whole outstanding order for A350 passenger planes was canceled by Airbus.
Two unnamed sources confirmed to Reuters on August 3, 2022, that the manufacturer has canceled the remaining portion of the undelivered deal, which consists of 19 A350-1000 aircraft intended to join Qatar Airways’ fleet.
The recent is most recent development in the conflict between Airbus and Qatar Airways around the deterioration of the A350 aircraft’s fuselage surface.
The dispute started in late 2021. At the time, the airline filed a lawsuit against the manufacturer in an effort to recover up to $600 million in damages. In response, Airbus attempted to cancel another delivery contract involving 50 A321neo aircraft that were scheduled to be delivered to the Doha-based airline.
However, the court decided in favor of Airbus in April 2022, allowing the aircraft manufacturer to forgo its contractual duty to deliver a different order of A321neo jets to the airline.
The court also permitted the planemaker to sell the aircraft to other Airbus customers, arguing that the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has verified they are safe to operate because Qatar Airways had refused to accept delivery of part of the A350s.
The EU regulator declared in mid-June 2022 that it had not discovered any evidence suggesting that Qatar Airways’ order of A350s’ paint or surface deterioration posed a safety problem.
