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Qatar Airways forced by regulators to ground 13 aircraft
13 aircraft within the Qatar Airways fleet have been grounded by authorities
Qatar Airways has been instructed by its regulator to ground 13 Airbus A350 planes due to a “faster than expected deterioration” of the fuselage surface below the paint on the jets.
The state-owned Gulf airline stated that it had been told to ground the planes until “the root cause can be established.”
The airliner says a satisfactory solution will need to be made available to permanently correct the underlying condition of the jets, and they will remain grounded until then.
Qatar Airways has been locked in a months-long public dispute with Airbus
The carrier is insisting it would not take any deliveries of the carbon-composite widebody jet until the problem was resolved.
“With this latest development, we sincerely expect that Airbus treats this matter with the proper attention that it requires,”
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said in a statement announcing the regulator’s grounding of the jets.
“Qatar Airways expects Airbus to have established the root cause and permanently corrected the underlying condition to the satisfaction of Qatar Airways and our regulator before we take delivery of any further A350 aircraft.”
According to reports, an Airbus spokesperson has stated that the planemaker was always in talks with its customers but those discussions were confidential, declining to comment further.
Qatar Airways said in June it had grounded some of its A350 jets until the issue could be understood and fixed, without disclosing how many aircraft had been pulled from service.