Qatar Airways has asked the UK court to reinstate an order of 50 Airbus A321neo jets revoked by Airbus in January 2022, Reuters reported on February 26, 2022.
The airline also asked for compensation from Airbus for cancelling the order of A321neo aircraft should the planemaker fail to reinstate the order, according to the report.
This is the latest development in the long-running dispute between Airbus and Qatar Airways.
In late 2021, Qatar Airways sued Airbus over the deterioration of the A350 fuselage surface, seeking $618 million in compensation. The Gulf carrier, which has 53 A350s in its fleet, claims it had to remove multiple aircraft from the flight roster, which were then grounded due to the issue.
In a further development, Qatar Airways regrets to advise that its regulator, the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority (QCAA) has now revoked the Airworthiness Review Certificate in respect of an additional A350 aircraft resulting in a total of 22 Airbus A350 aircraft now grounded.
— Qatar Airways (@qatarairways) February 28, 2022
“We have sadly failed in all our attempts to reach a constructive solution with Airbus in relation to the accelerated surface degradation condition adversely impacting the Airbus A350 aircraft,” Qatar Airways said in a statement. “Qatar Airways has therefore been left with no alternative but to seek a rapid resolution of this dispute via the courts.”
In response to Qatar Airways’ claims, Airbus terminated Qatar Airways’ order of 50 Airbus A321neo aircraft in January 2022. However, the UK court ordered Airbus to freeze the cancellation on February 18, 2022.
“Qatar Airways welcomes the decision of the High Court on Friday 18 February 2022 which issued an injunction against Airbus. The essence of the order is that Airbus must not do anything between the date of the order and a further hearing in April that would adversely affect its ability to comply with any court order that Qatar Airways might obtain in relation to the purported cancellation of the A321 contract,” according to Qatar Airways’ statement released on February 28, 2022.
In an unexpected turn of events, Qatar Airways has signed a Memorandum of Understating (MoU) for 25 Boeing 737 MAX 10 jets on February 1, 2022.