Qatar Airways in spat with Airbus over A350s

Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad Int’l) has refused to take deliveries of already-built A350-1000s over unspecified technical concerns, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker told Bloomberg. “If we are not able to settle that serious issue we have with them, we will refuse to take any aircraft from them,” he said, while saying that he “could not say” what the nature of the issue was. He further warned Airbus that a potential falling out with Qatar Airways would have repercussions for contracts signed by other airlines in which the Qatari group is a shareholder, including IAG International Airlines Group, LATAM Airlines Group, and Cathay Pacific. Neither the carrier nor Airbus commented on the topic. However, sources later told Reuters that the issue relates to aircraft painting. According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Qatar Airways has 23 unfilled orders for A350-1000s, with at least five deliveries tentatively scheduled for 2021. The Qatari airline’s current fleet includes nineteen A350-1000s, as well as thirty-four A350-900s. The carrier’s order book with Airbus also includes forty A321-200Ns and ten A321-200NX(LR)s.