Qatar Airways’ quarrel with Airbus over the quality of Airbus A350 aircraft production has seemingly not been resolved.
When asked about the recent Qatar Airways spat with Airbus, Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker told FlightPlan III webinar that he “cannot get into details”. However, Al Baker added that the Doha-based carrier would not “accept bullying” from any aircraft manufacturers, be it Airbus or Boeing.
“They are ignoring the fact that there are serious issues with those airplanes,” Al Baker said, while talking about the spat with Airbus over the Airbus A350 production issues. “We have serious concerns about those aircraft.”
Qatar Airways voiced the problem about the Airbus A350 aircraft quality issues earlier in June 2021. The Qatari airline’s boss warned that they would refuse to take deliveries from Airbus if disagreement was unresolved.
On June 8, 2021, the Doha-based carrier reportedly took action and halted Airbus A350 deliveries because the surface below the paint on certain A350s was degrading “at an accelerated rate”.
“Qatar Airways continues to experience and has witnessed a condition in which the surface below the paint on some of its Airbus A350 aircraft has been degrading at an accelerated rate,” a Qatar Airways spokesperson told Reuters on June 8, 2021, adding that the airline grounded some of its Airbus A350s until the issue was resolved.
Qatar Airways fleet of Airbus A350 XWB aircraft currently stands at 53, as per Planespotters.net data. The Doha-based air carrier has 19 Airbus A350-1000s and 34 Airbus A350-900 aircraft of an average of 2.7 years.