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Qatar Airways seeks more than $ 600 million in Airbus A350 Business and Economic News

Qatar Airways is demanding more than $ 600 million in compensation from aircraft manufacturer Airbus for damage to the surface of A350 aircraft, according to a court document, which sheds new light on the growing business dispute worth $ 4 million today.

The Gulf carrier is also urging British judges to refrain from trying to deliver more aircraft to France-based Airbus until it fixes what it describes as a design flaw.

The two companies have been locked in a conflict for months, with paint blisters, cracked or riveted window frames and the wear and tear of a lightning protection layer.

Qatar Airways said its national regulator had ordered it to stop flying 21 of its A350 aircraft from 21 aircraft as problems arose, and has caused a heated dispute with Airbus, although it admits there are no safety issues.

Now, financial and technical details related to the rare legal case have surfaced in a division of the London High Court, where Qatar Airways sued Airbus in December.

The Gulf airline is demanding $ 618 million in compensation for partial landing of Airbus, plus $ 4 million for each day 21 aircraft are out of service.

The claim includes $ 76 million for a single plane: a five-year-old A350 for the 2022 World Cup, which had to be repainted in the colors that Qatar will host this year.

The plane has been parked in France for a year, requiring 980 repairs to be repealed after the paintwork was revealed to reveal gaps hidden in the lightning, industry sources said.

The largest customer of Europe’s major long-haul aircraft says Airbus has failed to provide a full analysis of the reasons needed to answer unanswered questions about the airworthiness of the affected aircraft, including the lightning protection system.

Under the paint, lightning has a layer of copper under the paint – which strikes the average aircraft once a year – to prevent damage to the carbon-composite fuselage, which is lighter but less conductive than traditional metal.

Relationship breakdown

Airbus said it understood the cause and would “totally deny” the airline’s complaint. He has accused the airline, once one of its most courteous customers, of trying to define the problem as a safety issue.

“Airbus has confirmed that there are no airworthiness issues,” said a spokesman, which was confirmed by European regulators.

Qatar Airways, which ordered a total of 80 A350s, received no immediate comment.

The airline has long had a reputation for being a strict buyer, and occasionally rejects shipments for quality reasons.

But the 30-page complaint determined the unusual collapse of relations between the two most powerful aviation players.

The line was opened in November, when a Reuters investigation revealed that at least five other airlines had found surface defects, prompting Airbus to set up an internal working group and push into a new lightning design for future A350 aircraft.

Qatar is the only country to have landed a few planes so far.

According to aviation regulations, the manufacturer’s main regulator – in this case the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) – is responsible for overseeing the design of an aircraft.

When the aircraft is used, the regulators of each country are responsible for each aircraft.

The complaint specified how the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority (QCAA) began revoking permits to fly A350 individual aircraft from June 2021 in a number of letters.

He said the QCAA had told Airbus that the plane crash was “worrying, if not worrying.”

This is the first public evidence of the Qatari regulator’s position, which has not been publicly commented on.

Airbus appears to be questioning QCAA’s independence from the state’s airline, saying its decision to move security to a technical issue jeopardizes global security protocols.

Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said in London in November that the Qatari regulator was responsible for the decisions and that the conflict had caused a “serious cost” to the operations.

The airline has begun withdrawing from the mothballed A380 as it prepares to face the football World Cup.




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