Qatar Airways says Airbus delivering jets early as links improve

Two years ago, Qatar Airways’ relationship with Airbus SE was on the ropes. The two companies were facing off in court over what the airline called a defective paint job on its planes, and Airbus retaliated by canceling a large order from one of its most loyal customers. Now under new management, Qatar Airways says it’s made up with the European planemaker. In fact, Airbus is delivering aircraft earlier than planned, a rare occurrence in an industry hurting from delays and cancellations. “We have a very good relationship with Airbus,” CEO Badr Mohammed Al-Meer said at the Farnborough International Air show, “and just to prove this, the problem of the deliveries and aircraft which everybody’s facing, Airbus managed to deliver some of our aircraft earlier than their committed dates.” The falling out between Qatar and Airbus a few years ago was an unusually public dispute by two companies that had previously cooperated closely. Qatar was the first customer for the Airbus A350 airliner, and Airbus was keen to advance its relationship with one of its biggest buyers. It all fell apart over surface degradation on the A350, with Qatar escalating the dispute by refusing to take more planes, and then Airbus going one step further by canceled Qatar’s order for the sold-out A321 model.<br/>