The long-running and acrimonious dispute between Airbus and Qatar Airways took another twist on Friday. Boeing joined the two protagonists in the London court because of its commercial dealings with Qatar Airways (Qatar) over 737 MAX airliners.

This is not a good look

Friday's proceedings were the latest installment in the dispute between Airbus and Qatar over surface damage to the airline's A350 aircraft. Very briefly, Qatar has rejected the plane because it believes the damage to the fuselage paintwork and anti-lightning system poses a safety risk.

Airbus accepts manufacturing flaws but says they are not a safety risk, a position backed by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). In September, Airbus deleted the outstanding order for 19 A350-1000s from its Orders and Deliveries Report after previously revoking a deal with Qatar for 50 A321neo planes.

How is the MAX involved?

Last week, the lawyers were in court arguing about access to confidential documents, including a preliminary contract for Qatar's purchase of 737 MAX aircraft. Access to such confidential information is highly contested, and why Boeing sent their lawyers into the fray. At the Farnborough Airshow in July, Qatar confirmed an order for 25 737 MAX 10s plus options for a further 25 to replace the order for 50 A321neos canceled by Airbus.

Previous legal hearings accepted Airbus' argument that it did not have to build the A321neos for Qatar, with the OEM saying the MAX was as good as the A321. Qatar was ordered to provide the preliminary MAX contract to Airbus, but in court on Friday, Boeing objected to Airbus' internal lawyers seeing the data. Reuters quoted Boeing lawyer Paul Stanley as telling the court,

"The disclosure of pricing information...that is dynamite."

Qatar has 53 Airbus A350s, with ch-aviation.com data showing 19 A350-1000s and 34 A350-900s, with 29 of those listed as inactive. A Reuters report on Friday's court happenings said that 28 of Qatar's A350s are grounded because of surface damage. The current state of play is that Qatar is suing Airbus for at least $1.4 billion, and Airbus is counter-suing Qatar for $405 million. The Airbus claim includes $185 million of credits against future deliveries, which it said were paid into funds for Qatar's aviation development.

Airbus wants the development fund payment reimbursed as part of its claim and has asked Qatar to explain how the money was spent. While Qatar did not respond to a request for comment, Reuters reported that people familiar with the case said the money had been invested as expected and discussing the funds was a legal maneuver by Airbus. There was also disagreement in court over access to emails of Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker, with the airline given six weeks to address security concerns about information held on government servers.

Accusations getting muddier

A final sting in the tail was an accusation from Qatar that Airbus had attempted to influence EASA inspectors. Qatar said that Airbus was trying to bring inspectors "on side" by controlling what they saw, backing that up with an internal Airbus email. The email, which came for a 'top' A350 engineer, asked colleagues to show EASA the worst damage, adding: "We need to damp the first impression they will have." Airbus said this demonstrated their openness and willingness to show inspectors everything in a "warts and all" approach.

Read the latest Airbus news here.

Unsurprisingly, both sides are accusing each other of being uncooperative by not handing over documents. They also reiterated demands to have millions of dollars paid as deposits or credits returned, but any timely resolution to this saga seems to be a long way off.

Do you think it will end well for Airbus, Qatar Airways or Boeing?

Source: Reuters

• 

  Airbus

  Stock Code:

  AIR

  Date Founded:

  1970-12-18

  CEO:

  Guillaume Faury

  Headquarters Location:

  Toulouse, France

  Key Product Lines:

  Airbus A220, Airbus A320, Airbus A330, Airbus A340, Airbus A350, Airbus A380

  Business Type:

  Planemaker

• 

  Qatar Airways

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  QR/QTR

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Doha Hamad International Airport

  Year Founded:

  1993

  Alliance:

  oneworld

  CEO:

  Akbar Al Baker

  Country:

  Qatar