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Qatar Airways has axed orders for 4 A350s because of delivery delays, Airbus said Thursday, handing the planemaker a new headache over what to do with jets worth US$1.2b at list prices as it tries to close a sales gap with rival Boeing. The decision means Airbus will have to try to resell or reallocate the 283-seat jets at a time when demand for big planes is softening, and could cost Airbus $60m-80m to rip out and replace interiors designed to fit the airline's plush brand. The cancellation follows concerns about delays and quality problems on cabin equipment for the A350, but also comes at a time when Qatar is entering the second month of a crisis caused by a ban on Qatar's use of the airspace of 4 Arab nations. Qatar Airways CE Akbar Al Baker said earlier any delays were the planemaker's responsibility. <br/>

Qatar Airways has confirmed it has been removed from the ban on carrying laptops in the cabin on flights to the US. The airline said that with immediate effect, all personal electronic devices can be carried on board all departures from Doha to the US. Qatar Air said it and Doha Airport have met all requirements of the US Department of Homeland Security’s new security guidelines. The carrier is the fourth airline to be removed from the US laptop ban list. Emirates, Etihad Airways and Turkish Airlines have already been approved by the US DHS. Saudi Arabian Airlines expects to have its ban lifted by July 19, according to local media reports. The other airlines still subject to the ban are EgyptAir, Kuwait Airways, Royal Air Maroc and Royal Jordanian Airlines. <br/>

Qatar Airways ratcheted up a war of words with American Airlines over the Mideast carrier’s plans to take a stake in its US rival, as CE Akbar Al Baker said his counterpart Doug Parker is “frightened” by the proposed investment. Qatar Airways intends to buy shares of American if they’re attractively priced, regardless of Parker’s opposition, Al Baker said Thursday in his first public comments since news of the strategy emerged last month. “We will not impose ourselves on anybody,” he said. “However our filing is very well advanced, and we hope to start buying shares on the open market soon. We want to be a strategic shareholder. We’re not telling them what to do.” There are no plans to go beyond a 10% holding and certainly not to the maximum 20% available to a foreign carrier, Al Baker said. <br/>

Panicked passengers on an American Airlines widebody aircraft in Chicago last October demanded to evacuate as a massive fire engulfed the right wing, and were blasted by exhaust from an engine that pilots hadn’t shut down. The US NTSB released more than 500 pages of investigative reports Thursday detailing how a metallurgical flaw led to a violent right engine failure, a fire that raged outside the plane, and the ensuing evacuation. Flight attendants described a chaotic scene as they at first tried to prevent passengers from fleeing because the plane’s left engine was still operating and was buffeting 2 of the 3 escape slides. They relented after smoke began filling the cabin, and some of the passengers were blown to the tarmac by the blast of air from the working engine while they attempted to evacuate. <br/>

British Airways is set to cut its weekday flights on the crucial business Belfast to Heathrow route by one-third from the end of October. The airline said the decision was part of its winter scheduling and would be reviewed ahead of the start of next year’s summer period. But a group representing the Northern Ireland business community said it will be “disappointed” at the decision to cut weekday connections to the London hub and back from 6 to 4. Aer Lingus is expected to continue its 3 daily flights on the same route. British Airways has been operating at George Best Belfast City Airport since buying BMI 5 years ago. It closed down previous operations at Belfast International in 2001. <br/>