Cancellation of 50 A321neos Held for April Resolution

In the ongoing court dispute between Airbus and Qatar Airways, a London Judge ordered the manufacturer to delay its cancellation of nearly $6 billion in order slots as the lawsuit plays out. 

The cancellations were seen as a vindictive severance of the relationship between the two and is assumed to be the reason for a relatively large order with aircraft rival Boeing. Airbus had hoped that cancelling the early delivery slots for those highly desirable A321neos bound for Qatar would allow them to fulfill other customer demand. The court order now means that things are paused until an April hearing in which Qatar hopes to force the slots to be honored through court injunction. 

The lawsuit for $600 million has been a rare, open assault on the manufacturer over the quality and condition of A350 aircraft they say suffered from premature degradation. The notoriously picky airline has been left hanging in the hopes that Airbus will be ordered to follow through and fulfill the order for 50 A321neos. The manufacturer has protested the court's decision to intervene and ensure they hold things as-is before seeing them through in court, even warning that their supply chain could suffer damage if its hands were tied too severely. 

The cancellation was done by Airbus under an ostensible clause in a prior A350 deal, triggered by the airline's refusal to take more of those model aircraft until their degraded aircraft were repaired by the manufacturer. Both sides have made small overtures through their lawyers that hint at a somewhat difficult resolution, with one Qatar representative describing the decision to cancel a $330 million order as "a hand grenade being thrown into our bunker." 

FMI: www.airbus.com, www.qatarairways.com