Qatar Airways had come up with something very special for the 2022 World Cup. An Airbus A350 was to get a special paint job in a special hangar in Shannon, with which the national airline of Qatar wanted to advertise the major event. To do this, the old paintwork had to be removed, which had already become brittle and cracked in some places.
The visit to Shannon is the beginning of a particularly unpleasant episode that has been with Airbus for over a year and which has escalated into a bitter dispute with one of its most important customers. Because it turned out that the damage to the paintwork was not only superficial, but also affected the layers of paint underneath and even a fine metal mesh that acts as a lightning rod. Airbus is threatened with expensive compensation payments and repairs, and beyond that the damage is huge.
Because the civil aviation authority of Qatar has withdrawn the aircraft concerned and 19 other Qatar Airways aircraft. The supervisors first want to see what the cause of the damage is and make sure that the airworthiness of the machines is not impaired. In response, Qatar Airways boss Akbar Al Baker decided not to accept any more aircraft from Airbus until further notice. He still has 23 long-haul jets A350-Series ordered to the value of several billion euros. And Qatar Airways may want to buy up to 50 cargo planes soon, either Boeing 777XF or the cargo version of the recently launched by Airbus A350.
Qatar Airways isn’t the only airline having problems with the color of the A350 has, but apparently she is by far the worst hit. Lufthansa also has “cosmetic defects” on some of its Airbus A350 found, places where the paint is peeling, small cracks, but apparently not as serious damage as in Qatar. Finnair and Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong) are also among the group of airlines that complained to Airbus about the shortcomings.
The European Aviation Safety Authority sees no cause for concern
Airbus emphasizes that it has now found the cause. The Qatar Airways planes are exposed to particularly strong fluctuations in temperatures – from minus 60 degrees Celsius when cruising to plus 50 degrees when they are parked at Doha Airport in summer. The layers of paint expand and contract again. The hull itself, the A350 for the first time made of fiber composites, but not. In the long run, this creates cracks and, through environmental influences, damage to the so-called Expanded Copper Foil (ECF), a copper membrane that is supposed to protect the cabin from lightning strikes. The safety is “not at all” impaired and the fuselage itself is not damaged in any way, according to Airbus.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has been working on the matter for months. After a visit to Qatar, during which EASA inspectors examined the Qatar Airways jets, the authorities initially left a few things open: one could not say that the airworthiness was impaired, but one could also not say that it was not . In the meantime, however, EASA is also convinced that there is no need to worry about the most severely affected jets. The analysis did not reveal any aspects that would affect flight safety.
Airbus is now working on technical solutions and new processes that will solve the problems with the paintwork. It is likely to be at least as tedious to restore relations with Al Baker. “When there’s a problem, it’s always better to admit it than to put a customer in a corner,” said Al Baker at an event organized by the London Aviation Club. “Airbus is climbing a very tall tree and doesn’t know how to get back down.”