Qatar Airways said on Tuesday it was ready to take a legal dispute with Airbus over defects in the outer protective coating of the A-350’s widebody structures to court.
Qatar Airways is suing the European plane maker in a British court seeking $1 billion in damages after grounding about two dozen A-350 planes over the malfunction it says raises safety concerns, which Airbus and European regulators deny.
In a statement including detailed quotes from the judge’s ruling, the airline said that Qatar Airways was ready to take the matter to court to ensure its rights were protected and that Airbus had to address an unprecedented and highly unique defect affecting its A-350 aircraft, the entire industry and several airlines.
Airbus said it was surprised by what it described as a “complete mischaracterization” of the court’s decision, saying the court had rejected Qatar’s demands for injunctions.