The Arabian air carrier Qatar Airways announced that it initiated legal proceedings against the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus yesterday. The petition was filed at the High Court in London. The dispute between the parties concerns the degradation of the painted exterior surfaces of the fuselage of A-350 aircraft. According to the Doha-based airline, this resulted in economic damage as the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority (Qcaa) forced it to ground some of the aircraft for safety reasons.

"We have unfortunately failed in all our attempts to reach a constructive solution with Airbus in relation to the sudden surface degradation condition that is negatively impacting the Airbus A-350 aircraft". "We strongly believe that Airbus must undertake a thorough investigation of this situation to definitively establish its origin". "Without a proper understanding of the root cause of this condition, it is not possible for our airline to determine whether the proposed repair solution will restore the underlying condition" of the fuselage, the Arab company said in a note.

"Airbus has received a formal legal complaint in the English courts filed by Qatar Airways relating to the dispute over surface and paint degradation on some of the airline's A-350/XWB aircraft. Airbus is analyzing the content of the complaint and intends to vigorously defend its position", the European manufacturer confirmed in a brief note. 

On the same subject see also the article published by AVIONEWS.