Qatar Airways calls for a settlement of the dispute with Airbus outside the courts

Qatar Airways CEO Akbar al-Baker has called for a negotiated settlement of a bitter legal dispute with Airbus over planes that had defective exterior paint.
Qatar Airways had asked the High Court in London to suspend Airbus’ cancellation of an order for 50 A321 single-aisle planes, worth more than $6 billion.
Months ago, Qatar Airways was involved in a dispute with Airbus over the deterioration of the exterior surfaces of the fuselage on some of its A350 wide-body aircraft.
“Every partnership has disputes, and I only hope that this dispute will be resolved outside the courts,” Al-Baker told reporters on the sidelines of a press conference on preparations for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, in a rare comment on the issue.
For its part, Airbus said in a statement that “the case can now move forward quickly to focus on the main issue, which is the false statements made by Qatar Airways regarding the safety and airworthiness of the A350 aircraft, which we will continue to defend.”
In its statement, Airbus stressed that it “prefers an amicable solution” to this dispute.
The dispute led to the airline stopping 23 planes from operating and not accepting more deliveries from the European company until the problem was resolved.
Qatar Airways filed a lawsuit against Airbus over this issue with the High Court in London last December, where Airbus vigorously defended the A350 against any suggestions that the plane was not safe.
The Civil Aviation Authority in Qatar stopped the planes, considering that the metal grille under the paint poses a safety risk, but the European Aviation Safety Agency considered that the problem related to the paint “has no effect on the airworthiness of the A350 fleet.”
(AFP)