Qatar Airways has been asked to produce the official correspondence with the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority (QCAA) by the British court regarding the grounding of A350s-900 and A350-1000 over safety concerns related to paint degradation.
The airline has until April 21, 2023 to produce the communication between them and QCAA that has the orders to ground the 22 widebody Airbus aircraft. The aircraft was grounded on February 2022.
Prior to the order, the British court has requested the airline for the communication document on numerous occasions.
Qatar Airways is seeking compensation in excess of $2bn from Airbus in relation to the grounding.
Going ahead, the court has also raised concerns about the absence of any statement from the Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker.
During the hearing last week, the judge said: “The CEO was not peripheral to the case. Mr Al Baker appears not to wish to engage at all in this case, whether as a matter of substance or on matters of disclosure, where he may be able to assist.”
"If those (evidence) gaps remain and cannot be explained, especially as Mr Al Baker apparently is not giving evidence, then they (Airbus) will make an application that I should draw an adverse inference, either in relation to his absence or in relation to documentary absence, and there is very well-developed case law as far as that goes," added the judge.
Airbus has flagged that the QCAA-ordered groundings as more of a coercive tactic rather than a safety concern.