Qatar Airways has now brought back into the air all of the Airbus A350-900s that it had parked during a legal dispute with the European manufacturer.
The Doha-based airline had Airbus accused of significant quality deficiencies. Mutual complaints followed. The dispute culminated in the aircraft manufacturer canceled a large A321neo order. Qatar Airways also took this to court. Surprisingly could then an agreement can be reached. This also led to more A350s being purchased and the disputed order being placed back on Airbus' books.
The affected Airbus A350-900 aircraft were in long-time storage from 2021 up to and including 2023. Qatar Airways currently has 34 of this type. There are also 24 of the larger A350-100 variant. According to a report by CH-Aviation.com, the A7-ALF was the last parked A350-900 to be returned to commercial flight operations. The “comeback” flight took place on February 16, 2024 as QR1190 on the Doha-Jeddah route.
This means that all Qatar Airways Airbus A350-900s are in use again. No further details were provided regarding the agreement reached between Airbus and the golf carrier. The former disputers have agreed to remain silent on this matter. In any case, it led to further ordered A350s being accepted and the order for 50 A321neos being reactivated.