Qatar grounds A350s, cites fuselage issue

Qatar Airways has grounded 13 Airbus A350s and suspended deliveries of further aircraft, citing a surface issue on the plane's fuselage. The airline said it had grounded the aircraft at the behest of the Qatari regulator and it was continuing to closely monitor a “significant condition” across its A350 fleet in which the fuselage surface below the paint “was degrading at an accelerated rate”. It said it was working with the regulator to ensure the safety of all passengers and the 13 aircraft would be removed from service until a root cause was found and the problem was permanently corrected. READ: Eased UK COVID rules see a surge in British Airways bookings. It was also working with leasing companies affected by the grounding on inspections of affected aircraft. “The safety and security of its passengers remain Qatar Airways’ primary concern,’ it said. “ The airline will do all it can to also ensure that its passengers are not inconvenienced by the mandated removal of these aircraft from service and will endeavor to find alternative solutions to offer the usual high standard of service to all passengers. “Qatar Airways has already taken action to return its A330 fleet into service with immediate effect to offset some of the impact of the grounded A350 aircraft and is presently looking at other solutions too.” Qatar Airways group chief executive Akbar Al Baker called on manufacturer Airbus to treat the matter with “the proper attention that it requires”. “Qatar Airways will not accept anything other than aircraft that continue to offer its customers the highest possible standard of safety and the best travel experience that they deserve,’’ he said. “Qatar Airways expects Airbus to have established the root cause and permanently corrected the underlying condition to the satisfaction of Qatar Airways and our regulator before we take delivery of any further A350 aircraft.” The European regulator. EASA, looked at the issue and found no airworthiness impacts on the A350 fleet that would interfere with operations. EASA, which is believed to have identified the root cause, alsodid not require additional inspections beyond existing scheduled maintenance. Airbus continues to monitor the situation and said it was always in talks and working with its customers. "Those talks we keep confidential,'' it said. "We have no further comment on our customer’s operations." The Qatar complaint comes as Airbus has recently announced significant developments in the A350 program, including plans to offer a freighter version and the delivery of the first aircraft from its widebody completion & delivery center in Tianjin, China. The A350F is expected to have a payload capability of at least 90 tonnes and the company is planning for an entry into service in 2025. The Chinese A350 was delivered to China Eastern from a facility located on the same site as the company’s A320 family final assembly line and delivery line. The facility undertakes aircraft completion activities such as cabin installation, aircraft painting and production flight testing, as well as customer flight acceptance and aircraft delivery.