Ice has been broken , the bitter billion dollar dispute is a thing of past now, as Qatar Airways and Airbus have reached a settlement in a long-standing legal dispute over the safety of the A350 jetliner.
As we had been following the case regularly , around eight months ago , there were hints from both the Aviation Figures for an out of court amicable solution. But , that did not materialize untill today , when the same statement from both the company cleared the bad air.
Hailing the latest development as positive , the companies said in a joint statement on Wednesday that the settlement was “amicable and mutually agreeable’’.
The statement read as ,
Qatar Airways and Airbus are pleased to have reached an amicable and mutually agreeable settlement in relation to their legal dispute over A350 surface degradation and the grounding of A350 aircraft. A repair project is now underway and both parties look forward to getting these aircraft safely back in the air.
However , none of the parties wished to reveal the details of the settlement saying ,
The details of the settlement are confidential and the parties will now proceed to discontinue their legal claims. The settlement agreement is not an admission of liability for either party.
With this , Airbus and its A350 Launch Customer are looking forward for mutual benefits as they said ,
This agreement will enable Qatar Airways and Airbus to move forward and work together as partners.
The “amicable settlement” ends a $2bn row over the safety of Europe’s premier long-haul jet – an unprecedented public rift that led Airbus to revoke dozens of other jet orders from Qatar ahead of a scheduled June court trial.
Qatar Airways grounded Airbus A350s over what it described as fuselages “degrading at an accelerated rate” in the long-range aircraft.
The airline had raised questions about the A350s’ carbon composite fuselage, designed to make the twin-aisle aircraft lighter and cheaper to operate by burning less jet fuel.
In December 2021, Qatar’s national carrier announced it was suing Airbus in London over what it described as the “accelerated surface degradation” of the wide-body A350.
The next month, Airbus terminated a multibillion-dollar order by Qatar Airways for 50 of its smaller single-aisle in-demand A321neo jets.
The termination of the Airbus contract for its A321neos followed Qatar Airways’ refusal to take any more A350s until the problem was fixed, which is a thing of past at the moment.
Now seems to be good time for both as Sources say , Airbus would now go ahead with delivering 50 Airbus A321 narrowbodies and 23 remaining A350 twin-aisles previously ordered from Qatar Airways, which implies , they are back on track.
