A bang in the legal dispute between Qatar Airways and Airbus. A British court has ruled that the European aircraft manufacturer may cancel the order for 50 Airbus A321neos. The golf carrier's appeal was dismissed.

In January of this year Airbus surprisingly canceled a large order from Qatar Airways for the Airbus A321neo aircraft. This was the temporary peak of the disagreements between the two companies, because the golf carrier accuses significant quality defects in the A350. These are disputed by the manufacturer.

To put it simply, Airbus was fed up and canceled the bulk order mentioned. Of course, Qatar Airways did not want to put up with this and went to court in London. The place of negotiation results from the fact that in the supply contracts the United Kingdom is mutually agreed as the place of jurisdiction in the event of disputes. So it was the island state's judiciary's turn.

Qatar Airways recently clinched a provisional stage win as the judges granted provisional legal protection. Airbus was temporarily prohibited from allocating the golf carrier's delivery slots to other customers. This is now over, because the European aircraft manufacturer can sell the 50 Airbus A320neo elsewhere with a court blessing. In the meantime, Qatar Airways has put out feelers towards Boeing and peeks at the not yet flying Boeing 737 Max 10.

Apart from the fact that it is not yet approved, this pattern also has another disadvantage. The A321neo has a larger range than the competitor model. Qatar Airways also tried to convince the British court with this argument, but they bit on granite. The judges are of the opinion that Qatar Airways can very well procure the desired Airbus A321neo, for example through lessors and not directly from Airbus.

Qatar Airways has to pay Airbus $331.000 in court and attorney fees

The court also takes the view that the aircraft manufacturer is not obliged to enter into any contracts with Qatar Airways. However, this lawsuit is just one of many currently being heard in the UK. The much larger "chunk" revolves around the golf carrier alleged quality defects in the Airbus A350 machine type. The High Court has to deal with a claim for damages of one billion euros.

By the way, Qatar Airways is paying dearly for the lost lawsuit regarding the A321neo order. Otherwise, you have to transfer a whopping 14 US dollars to the manufacturer Airbus within 331.000 days. The high court and legal costs result from the enormous amount in dispute in the legal dispute that Airbus won.