More bad news from the Gulf for Airbus. After Dubai-based Emirates cancelled its order for 70 A350s in June (see here), Airbus’ latest prestige project slated to enter commercial service in October, Qatar Airways (QR) of Doha has today announced it rejected delivery of its first three A380 superjumbos from Airbus.
As reported by Reuters, QR rejected the new aircraft due to quality deficiencies. When QR inspectors went to Toulouse to scrutinise and take formal delivery of the aircraft, they identified an array of production flaws inside the A380s’ cabins. As it transpired, the paint in some areas had a bubbled texture, joint lines on the aircrafts’ wallpapers were visible and some gaps in non-textile floor coverings were showing.
QR chief executive Akbar Al Baker is not happy. His new flagship superjumbo was slated to appear at this week’s Farnborough Airshow in southern England. "I'm very disappointed with Airbus that they did not bring my A380 to show at this very important airshow," Al Baker said in an interview with Reuters Insider TV.
QR was set to start daily A380 operations from Doha to London Heathrow from July 1 (see here), but had to subsequently postpone the double decker’s deployment on the route until October 1.
Airbus said it was working to fix the issues and that the latest setback would not have any impact on its 2014 target of delivering 30 of the aircraft. As of July 2014, Airbus has received 324 firm orders by 20 customers for the A380. The European aircraft manufacturer is increasingly under pressure to sell more of its prestigious aircraft as no new orders have been announced since November 2013 (see here).
For more information, visit qatarairways.com
Dominic Sebastian Lalk
