It seems like things are heating some more between Qatar Airways and Airbus. According to a report from Reuters, Airbus revoked Qatar Airways’ outstanding order of 19 A350-1000 jets amid a court stand-off due to issues on premature surface damage.
The issue between Airbus and Qatar Airways stems from a lawsuit filed by the latter after Qatar’s regulators opted to ground the A350 fleet of the airline due to surface damage. Qatar Airways claims that the fuselage of the aircraft is degrading at a fast rate. Airbus however is saying that the damage is merely cosmetic.
To solve this, Qatar Airways has refused to accept delivery of the remaining A350-1000 orders until the issue is resolved. Qatar Airways is also asking for an explanation from Airbus about the damaged and missing patches of anti-lightning mesh exposed by the peeling paint.
No more Airbus orders
With these recent developments, Qatar Airways has no more outstanding orders with Airbus. In April 2022, Airbus terminated 50 A321neo orders that Qatar Airways ordered due to this ongoing court dispute. These A321neo jets were supposed to be used by the airline to open more routes and to fill in the demand for the FIFA World Cup 2022 to be held in Qatar.
Should the A350 contract termination push through, Qatar Airways will be left with no more pending Airbus deliveries. In other words, there will be no more Airbus jets to be delivered to Qatar Airways, especially at a time when they need the planes.
Qatar Airways is preparing to fly around 1.2 million passengers for the FIFA World Cup happening in November and December. The airline badly needs the capacity and they are currently addressing it by leasing more planes and flying their A380s which were set for retirement.
Grounded A350s
Based on Airfleets.net, Qatar Airways operates 26 A350 aircraft which include 7 A350-1000 and 19 A350-900. Qatar Airways was the launch customer of both the A350-1000 and A350-900.
The airline also has 7 Airbus A380s on active status with 3 in storage set for retirement. The airline’s CEO Akbar Al Baker has earlier said that he sees no long-term future for their A380s. Al Baker also claims that the A380 was his biggest mistake.
Other Airbus aircraft still active with Qatar Airways are A330-300, A330-200, A320, and A321.
Qatar Airways to operate more Boeing aircraft
With the recent cancellation of pending Airbus orders, it is most likely that Qatari airline may soon become an all-Boeing operator. They still have Boeing jets up for delivery. These include:
- 23x Boeing 787-9
- 25x Boeing 737 MAX 10
- 40 Boeing 777-9X
However, this is where the problem creeps in. The Boeing 737 MAX 10 has not yet been certified and Boeing is even threatening to cancel this project. The 777-9X continues to face delays. Its earliest entry into service is still in 2025. This leaves Qatar Airways with the pending Boeing 787-9 orders which can all resume delivery.
Given these issues, it seems like Qatar Airways may experience turbulent skies in addressing its network expansion and fulfilling the FIFA World Cup needed capacity. The most likely scenario is that Qatar Airways will be forced to lease aircraft, even on short-term leases, to fill the demand. Amidst the green light to resume 787-9 deliveries, it may not be enough to address the whole demand and required capacity.
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