Qatar Airways in mystery Airbus row

Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al-Baker criticized Airbus for the second time this month, warning his airline might stop taking deliveries from the French planemaker this year over an unspecified “serious” issue, Bloomberg reported.

“We have an issue with Airbus we need to settle, and if we are not able to settle that serious issue we have with them, we will refuse to take any aircraft from them,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.

Problems with Qatar Airways will cause Airbus “a stress in the relationship with IAG, with LatAm, with other airlines in which we have a shareholding,” the news wire said.

The subject of the spat? “I unfortunately cannot tell you what that issue is,” Al- Baker said.

Airbus won’t say either. A spokesperson for the Blagnac, France-based company said it’s in constant discussions with customers about their requirements, and that details on those discussions “remain confidential.”

It comes days after the airline chief criticized Airbus’s giant A380 jets over their inefficiency and operational cost. However, he said his dissatisfaction with that aircraft was not the subject of the latest dispute.

Al-Baker all revealed the carrier accepted $3 billion in support from the Qatari government since the start of the pandemic. The state-run carrier received its first injection of aid after its losses topped half of it share capital last year, Bloomberg reported.