Qatar Airways to challenge Airbus A321 cancellation in court

Qatar Airways plans to fight the cancellation of an aircraft order by planemaker Airbus SE in court, the latest escalation of an acrimonious dispute. The Middle East airline asked the court for an injunction to stop Airbus from trying to cancel the contracts because it will “severely affect” the airline and is “misguided and legally invalid,” according to documents prepared by Qatar’s lawyers for a London hearing on Friday. “My clients have been in the queue now for four years,” Philip Shepherd, Qatar’s lawyer, said in court. “It’s only on Jan. 17 that this changed.” The fight between the manufacturer and one of its biggest customers is playing out in court after Qatar sued Airbus over surface-paint defects on A350 jets. The planemaker responded by canceling a separate contract to deliver its hard-to-get A321s, as well as two A350s due for delivery. Airbus has said it’s within the company’s rights to scrap the order due to a “cross-default” clause in the contract. The company’s lawyers said Friday that it warned Qatar in December that failing to take the outstanding A350 aircraft would be “at its own risk.” Airbus canceled the first A350 and the A321neo contract on Jan. 17, according to the documents, and then scrapped another A350 on Jan. 28. Qatar is seeking to “preserve the status quo” before the first cancellation was made, while the broader court battle gets underway. The company’s lawyer argued that canceling the contract for the popular A321 model would be an advantage for the manufacturer, while it would harm Qatar. The airline repeated its argument that Airbus has not produced a full accounting of the causes of the surface issues with the A350s and referred to a “campaign of terminations and disruptive behavior” by the manufacturer. It said it had already paid more than $330m to Airbus for the 50 A321neo due. <br/>