Qatar Airways announced Monday that it had initiated legal action against aircraft manufacturer Airbus in the United Kingdom in an attempt to resolve a dispute about skin faults on A350 passenger jets, pushing the two parties closer to a rare legal clash over aviation safety.
Qatar Airways - one of the European aircraft manufacturer's largest clients - said in a statement that it has no choice but to seek a swift resolution of this dispute through the courts and has seized the Haute Court on Monday.
As a result of these problems, the Doha-based airline has grounded 23 of its 52 A350s, and they expect that the judicial route will compel Airbus to address its genuine issues without further delay.
The airline stated emphatically that it believes Airbus should conduct an investigation into this situation in order to establish decisively its core cause. Qatar Airways stated that without a thorough grasp of it, the airline cannot determine whether any remediation approach would correct the underlying situation.
The two parties have been at odds for months over damage to a sub-layer of lightning protection, which Qatar Airways claims has resulted in the grounding of 21 A350 aircraft by its domestic regulator.
Despite some surface degradation, Airbus claims that the carbon-composite passenger jets are safe to fly, while Qatar Airways argues it is too early to judge whether safety has been affected.
Last week, Airbus accused the Gulf airline of portraying the problem as a safety issue, threatening to seek an independent legal examination in what experts described as an unprecedented action.
Qatar Airways said in early August that it had received an order from its country's regulator to keep 13 of its Airbus A350s grounded due to fast deterioration of the fuselage surfaces.
According to the company, which has 34 A350-900 and 19 A350-1000 aircraft in its fleet, 21 of these long-haul planes are currently grounded.
For its part, Airbus said a degradation of the paint that can expose an integrated metal mesh - intended to safeguard the aircraft in the case of a lightning strike on its fuselage constructed of composite materials - has no impact on flight safety.
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker stated in an interview with Danny Lee of Hong Kong's South China Morning Post newspaper published last Tuesday that the airline expects to ground more of the model's planes, accusing Airbus of "destroying" the airline's business relationship.
