European aircraft manufacturer Airbus asked British courts to impose a 220 million dollars fine, yesterday, on airline Qatar Airways for refusing to take delivery of two A-350 aircraft. In turn, the Arab carrier has for weeks been demanding compensation of 618 million dollars plus a 4 million dollars penalty for each day the 22 aircraft are grounded due to a fuselage paint problem.

The tension between the industry and carrier worsened at the end of January, when the European manufacturer took the decision to cancel an order for 50 A-321neo aircraft placed by the Arab airline. A decision motivated by the application of a standard practice in the aviation industry, known as the "cross clause".

The refusal of a customer to take a delivery authorizes, according to contractual terms, the manufacturer to renegotiate or terminate other contracts with the same customer. At the basis of the dispute was the deterioration of the fuselage surfaces of some A-350s that triggered the dispute between the two companies.

On the same subject see also the article published by AVIONEWS.