Airbus And Qatar Airways Settle A350 Dispute And Revive Cancelled Aircraft Orders

Qatar Airways and Airbus said they had a reached “an amicable and mutually agreeable settlement” to a dispute over the A350 aircraft which has been rumbling for more than two years, ahead of a court case that was due to start in the High Court in London in the coming months.

In a brief joint statement issued on February 1, the Gulf airline and the European aircraft maker said both would end their legal claims against the other, but that the details of the settlement were confidential.

They added that a repair project was now under way and that “both parties look forward to getting these aircraft safely back in the air”.

The settlement, which involved no admission of liability from either side, also paves the way for Qatar Airways to revive previously abandoned plans to buy more jets from Airbus.

Qatar had been the largest operator of the A350 in the world prior to the dispute breaking out, with 53 of the jets delivered out of an order for 76 of them made in June 2007.

The airline said that in late 2020 it discovered the airframe of one of its A350s was showing premature and accelerated degradation on the surface. It later discovered similar problems on other aircraft.

By August 2021, the Gulf airline said it had been forced to ground 13 of the aircraft following an explicit instruction from its regulator, the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority. Other planes were grounded in the following months. In December that year it issued legal proceedings against Airbus in the High Court in London.

In a statement in January 2022, the airline said “these defects are not superficial and one of the defects causes the aircraft’s lightning protection system to be exposed and damaged”.

Airbus rejected the Qatari claims and vowed to defend itself vigorously in court. In December 2021 it said the surface degradations were “non-structural” and had “no airworthiness impact on the A350 fleet”.

Nonetheless, in its most recent financial results, it said that “the outcome of the [legal] proceedings cannot be fully assessed at this stage, but any judgment or decision unfavourable to the company could have a material adverse impact on the financial statements, business and operations of the company as well as its reputation.”

Airbus found ways to fight back against Qatar Airways. In January 2022, it cancelled without warning an order the airline had made for 50 of its smaller A321 Neo aircraft – a move which prompted further legal action.

That A321 order has now been revived, although the first deliveries are now not expected before 2026, three years later than previously planned. A further 23 A350s are also due to be delivered to Doha.

It remains unclear what the settlement might mean for other airlines which have reportedly raised concerns about paint and surface flaws on the A350.

However, it marks a sharp change in direction for the Airbus-Qatar relationship. A little over a year ago, in December 2021, Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al-Baker told the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post that Airbus had “destroyed” its business relationship with the carrier. That relationship now appears to have been rebuilt.