Qatar Airways and Airbus on Wednesday announced the end of their dispute over peeling paint on 29 Airbus-built A350 passenger jets. Qatar Airways wanted compensation of about 2.25 billion euros and had started a lawsuit in Great Britain, which was to be heard in June.
After months of negotiations, the two sides said they are “delighted to have reached an amicable and mutually acceptable settlement” over the peeling paint that grounded the A350 jets, resulting in lost revenue. “A repair project is now underway and both parties look forward to getting these aircraft safely back into the air,” they said in a statement. It also stated that the details of their agreement will remain ‘confidential’.
Qatar Airways had urged the British court to resolve the case before the start of the Football World Cup at the end of 2022. After all, the airline then needed all the capacity to transport the expected millions of football fans to the Gulf state. That deadline was not met.
Qatar grounded the A350 jets in 2021 after the paint began to peel off, which a regulator said could pose problems for the plane’s lightning protection. Although Airbus acknowledged the paint problem, it stated that the planes could fly safely over long distances. When Qatar Airways went to court, Airbus canceled the sale of 19 A350 jets and 50 A321 medium-haul aircraft.
The agreement now reached between Airbus and Qatar Airways also means that those canceled orders, worth more than 12.7 billion euros at list prices, have been reinstated.
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