Youtube video escalates paint dispute between airbus and qatar

billion-dollar dispute over the paint job: how qatar airways escalates the conflict with airbus with this youtube video

Professional photo Christian Mayer

The dispute between airbus and qatar airways over the paint finish of the A350 aircraft enters the next round.

On thursday, the european aircraft manufacturer hit the airline hard with the cancellation of a major aircraft order for 50 planes – a multi-billion dollar contract.

qatar has published a video on youtube, which shows close ups of the paint damage. The video at the time of publication of this text was already almost 300.clicked on 000 times.

The world’s largest aircraft manufacturer, airbus, no longer wants to deliver long-ordered aircraft to the five-star airline qatar airways. The company has simply canceled the order of 50 machines. An unusual occurrence that can be seen as another escalation in the dispute between two powerful players in aviation.

Qatar airways has more than a hundred airbus aircraft in its fleet. qatar still advertises one particular type, the long-haul airbus A350, on its homepage: the A350 is "the most technologically advanced aircraft". Airbus was the launch customer for the aircraft seven years ago.

However, the good ratio is over. Qatar accuses airbus of causing paint damage to some of its more than 50 A350 aircraft, allegedly endangering flight safety. that’s why qatar is taking the matter to court in london, where a lawsuit is to be heard in april – the airline is seeking the equivalent of around 530 million euros in damages from airbus.

Following airbus’ announcement last Thursday that it would cancel its order for 50 short- and medium-haul a321neo aircraft, qatar airways released a video the following Friday that purports to prove the paint damage.

The video was uploaded on the official youtube account of qatar airways. Nearly two minutes of close-up footage of aircraft with flaking paint – without sound. A hand with a glove shows how easy the paint is to chip off. In some places in the detailed photos, you can see the aircraft registration numbers of at least three different A350-941 aircraft.

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What is the role of the Qatar aviation authority??

The big question is what role the responsible aviation authority "qatar civil aviation authority" (QCAA) plays in qatar. The airline has been ordered to ground a good half of the A350 fleet for the time being. according to the "handelsblatt," the aircraft manufacturer intends to argue in court that qatar airways influenced the aviation authority to seek compensation for the grounded aircraft. In addition to the equivalent of around 530 million euros in damages, qatar wants compensation in the amount of around 3.5 million euros for each additional day that the aircraft is grounded.

What airbus admits is that the paintwork cracks after a certain time. But the aircraft manufacturer says it vehemently rules out safety risks. lufthansa has 17 A350s in its fleet – but no complaints about the aircraft type have been heard from the airline’s environment.

It’s an expensive bet qatar airways is making with the lawsuit against airbus. the cancellation of the a321neo is likely to hurt the airline: air traffic has started to grow again after the slump caused by the corona pandemic and is expected to continue to do so. The plan was to deliver the planes in the spring of next year.

Soon the qatar fleet could reach its limits; at least as long as the aviation authority keeps the A350 planes grounded. The emirate of Qatar is facing a. November this year, the soccer World Cup is approaching – an event that is expected to see passenger numbers rise sharply. Provided that the games are allowed to take place in front of spectators.

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