British Airways also experiencing surface degradation on its Airbus A350s
British Airways owner IAG has experienced surface degradation on Airbus A350 jets but not to the same extent as Qatar Airways and it would not influence its decision when weighing new plane orders, its CEO said.
Qatar and Airbus have been at loggerheads for months, with both sides turning to the courts to settle a very public dispute after Qatar grounded 22 A350 jets over erosion to their painted surface and lightning protection.
Airbus says the issues are no reason to ground the planes.
The A350-1000 was delivered by Airbus in late July 2019, making them the newest aircraft model joining the Boeing 787-8s and -9s already in the fleet.
IAG Chief Executive Luis Gallego told Reuters that operators he knew were having some surface degradation issues, but that Europe’s safety aviation regulator (EASA) had said they did not impact the airworthiness of IAG’s aircraft.
“We can see the problem in daily checks but mainly when you stop the aircraft for the first C-check,” he said in an interview, adding that “we have very young aircraft, so the level of defects that we see maybe is not comparable to others.”
A C-check is a lengthy inspection carried out after a certain amount of time or usage, generally around three years.
“We have informed in our case EASA and EASA told us that the level of degradation that we are experiencing doesn’t impact the airworthiness of the aircraft,” he said, outlining for the first time the defects seen by the group.
“We have a young fleet of 350s, and usually you can see the defect when you have the opportunity to stop the aircraft for a check,” he added.
EASA has said it has not identified any airworthiness problems with the A350 in general. Qatar Airways says it needs more analysis.
Gallego’s comment comes as IAG holds advanced talks with planemakers on a medium-haul fleet shake-up that may see it opt for Boeing BA.N and Airbus jets.
Asked if the paint issues would affect IAG’s thinking, Gallego replied: “No.”
IAG stunned the industry nearly three years ago when it unveiled a tentative order for 200 Boeing 737 MAX at a time when the jet was grounded in the wake of two fatal crashes.
COVID-19 caused that deal to lapse, and the airline group later started a formal contest between Boeing and Airbus.
“We are analysing what options we have for the narrowbody, the MAX is a very good aircraft and it’s an option that we are considering,” he said.
Reuters.com by Kate Holton Editing by Mark Potter