By Kate Holton and Tim Hepher
LONDON/PARIS, Nov 30 (Reuters) – The head of Qatar Airways on Tuesday called on Airbus to admit that it had a problem with flaws on the surface of its A350 jets and ruled out buying freighter planes from the European company, effectively handing a potential deal to rival Boeing BA.N.
Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker confirmed that the Gulf airline had grounded 20 of the long-range A350 jets in a months-long dispute over paint and other surface damage that has also prompted the airline to halt further deliveries of the model.
“They have acknowledged that they are working to find a solution, which means they still don’t have a solution,” Al Baker told the Aviation Club in London.
“And they don’t have a solution because they still don’t know why it is happening. You know it is always better when there is a problem to admit, not to put your customer in a corner and blame them for something which is actually your own problem.”
Reuters reported on Monday that at least five other airlines had raised concerns over surface flaws since the A350 entered service and that in some cases surface damage extended beneath the paint to a layer of metallic lightning protection.
Airbus, which until recently maintained that the problem was confined to Qatar Airways, has said the plane is safe and that it understands the root cause of the problem.
Airbus had no immediate comment on Al Baker’s remarks.
Airbus said in response to queries from Reuters for Monday’s article that there had been some problems with “early surface wear” that in some cases had made visible a sub-layer of mesh designed to absorb lightning, which it is working to fix.
Al Baker was also asked about a possible purchase of freighter aircraft, following his comments that Qatar was looking at an “attractive proposition from Boeing”.
Asked if this would close the door on buying the A350 freighter, he said “yes”. Asked if the order could reach around 50 777X freighters, he said nearly, without giving more details.
(Reporting by Kate Holton, Tim Hepher; editing by Michael Holden and Barbara Lewis)
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