Airbus and Qatar Airways face off again in court

Airbus and Qatar Airways clashed once again in court on Friday as a dispute over damage to A350 jetliners descended into a tug-of-war over confidential documents while the sums at stake in their unprecedented falling-out topped $1.5 billion.

Qatar Airways is suing Airbus over damage to the painted surface and anti-lightning system on A350 jets, saying safety could be at risk from a design defect.

Airbus acknowledges quality flaws but denies design problems and insists the jets are safe, backed by Europe’s regulator.

The two sides must provide each other with thousands of pages of documents as their dispute – which has already altered the shape of planemaking competition – heads towards a rare London aerospace trial in mid-2023, barring a settlement.

The number of A350s grounded by Qatar because of surface damage has risen to 28 out of 53 A350s in its fleet.

Airbus said last month it had revoked all 19 remaining A350 orders from Qatar Airways, severing outstanding business with the Gulf carrier for new jets. read more

The case has shed a rare public spotlight on the inner workings of the global jet market, including contractual details and the industrial playbook for preparing delivery of new jets.

Both sides raised the stakes on Friday as a division of the High Court began hearing mutual claims of foot-dragging over the release of documents, as well as the return of tens of millions of dollars of deposits and contractual incentives.

In a counter-claim in February, Airbus asked Qatar Airways for $220 million in damages and detailed $185 million which it said had been paid into three funds for the development of Qatari aviation as part of the original A350 deal in 2007-2009.

Airbus is seeking reimbursement and said on Friday it had sought details from the airline on how the money had been spent. Qatar Airways did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

People familiar with the case said Qatar Airways was arguing that the money had been invested as anticipated and that the airline was not in any case required to give evidence on this.

For its part, Qatar Airways accused Airbus of trying to bring European regulators “on side” by controlling what they saw regarding the damage to A350 jets.

It reproduced an internal Airbus email titled “Easy mtg” from the top A350 engineer asking colleagues to show the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) the worst damage, adding: “We need to damp the first impression they will have”.

An Airbus spokesperson said this demonstrated a “warts and all” approach to the case. EASA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Boeing has meanwhile been dragged into the public dispute between its arch-rival and one of its own biggest clients for the first time.

The dispute over the A350 widened earlier this year when Airbus revoked a separate contract for 50 smaller A321neo jets, arguing the contracts were linked by a cross-default clause.

Qatar subsequently ordered the Boeing 737 MAX and this catapulted arguments over the relative merits of the jets into court, with Airbus unusually saying the MAX was as good as the A321 in a bid to avoid being forced to build the jets for Qatar.

Now the airline has been ordered to hand over a preliminary version of the MAX contract to Airbus, but Boeing objects to elements of the rare disclosure, sources said.

Boeing, which was represented in court, declined comment.