Qatar Airways Grounds 13 A350s Due To Surface Issues
Qatar Airways has grounded 13 of its Airbus A350 fleet. The airline cited the fuselage surface below the paint degrading at an accelerated rate. The issue seems to have been first discovered when an aircraft flew to Ireland for a world cup paint job earlier this year.
The Airbus A350 is a key part of the Qatar Airways fleet. However, recently the airline’s CEO, Akbar Al Baker, has had particularly strong words about the fleet, going as far as to stop further A350 deliveries. Now, the airline has taken the decision to ground 13 of its fleet of A350 aircraft.
What’s the issue?
According to Qatar Airways, 13 of its Airbus A350 aircraft have suffered accelerated surface degradation below the paint scheme. The Airbus A350 has a composite fuselage as opposed to the traditional aluminum fuselage of older aircraft.
According to Qatar Airways, it has been working closely with the Qatari aviation regulator regarding the aircraft. The regulator has now issued ‘explicit written instructions’ to ground the 13 aircraft affected by the issue. The aircraft will remain grounded until the cause of the degradation has been established, and a permanent fix has been made possible.
The story seems to have started back in November 2020. Back then, the airline sent a four-year-old Airbus A350-900 to Shannon in Ireland. The IAC paint shop was due to apply a livery celebrating next year’s football world cup in Qatar.
When the paint was stripped off, the paint shop reportedly found cracks in the aircraft surface, though Airbus later clarified that these were “superficial/cosmetic and only visible when the top coat of paint is stripped”.
In early January the aircraft was ferried across to Toulouse without a paint scheme applied so that it could undergo further examination. The aircraft has remained in Toulouse since, and it seems as though this is what has been observed on the other 12 aircraft too.
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