Qatar Airways Confirms That The A380 Will Not Return For Good.

In an earlier article we stated that Qatar Airways brought back "the company's biggest mistake" Back then, it seemed as if Qatar changed their mind and gave the aircraft one more try. However, today, Qatar Airways stated that the A380 will not be in their fleet for good and they added it in with great reluctance. They had to do so as 19 of their Airbus A350s were grounded earlier due to paint degradation issues.

As the issue with the A350 (on Qatar's Jets) has not been resolved by Airbus yet, the A380 seems like it will be here to stay for a few months, before being sent to the scrap yard. The aircraft will be operated on flights to London and Paris. May the A380 rest in peace.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: "The recent grounding of 19 Qatar Airways A350 fleet has left us with no alternative but to temporarily bring some of our A380 fleet back on key winter routes.

"These groundings are due to an ongoing issue relating to the accelerated degradation of the fuselage surface below the paint, which as yet remains an unresolved matter between Qatar Airways and the manufacturer for which the root cause is yet to be understood.

"This difficult decision reflects the gravity of the A350 issue and is intended to be a short-term measure to assist us in balancing our commercial needs. It does not signify a permanent reintroduction of our A380 fleet, which were grounded in favour of more fuel-efficient, twin-engine aircraft at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"One of Qatar Airways' greatest assets is our highly flexible fleet of diverse aircraft. This means we are not dependent on a specific aircraft type, and enables us to balance our commercial needs with our responsibilities to maintain an environmentally sustainable fleet at all times.

"Looking forward, we remain committed to finding alternative solutions to support customer demand and maintain the highest levels of sustainability and customer experience for our passengers.

"We continue to strongly urge Airbus to prioritize their investigations into the conclusive root cause of the issue affecting the A350 aircraft type, and ensure it proposes a permanent solution at the earliest opportunity to repair the damage and correct the underlying root cause."

About Qatar Airways:

Qatar Airways is the state-owned flag carrier of Qatar. The airline is based in Doha's Hamad International Airport and was founded in 1993. The airline has a fleet size of 235, travelling to 173 destinations.

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