Qatar Airways has been forced to cancel plans to display its first Airbus A380 at the Farnborough air show, in the wake of continuing delivery delays.
The airline confirms to Flightglobal that the A380 “will not be attending the show”.
Qatar Airways had been due to take delivery of its first three A380s in June, but the schedule had to be revised after problems were discovered during delivery acceptance inspections. The airline is unable to say when it now expects the first aircraft to arrive.
Speaking recently about the situation, Qatar Airways boss Akbar Al Baker said that deliveries had been delayed “as certain elements of the aircraft are being finalised to meet the high standards and expectations of Qatar Airways”.
He added that the delay was caused by “certain issues affecting the interior of the cabin which were identified during the standard delivery process, which includes vigorous inspections by a technical team”.
Schedules data from Flightglobal’s Innovata division indicates that the Qatar Airways A380 will not be in service before 1 August. It is due to enter service on one of the airline’s daily flights between Doha and London Heathrow.
Despite the move, Qatar Airways will still have a major presence at Farnborough as it will be displaying an Airbus A320 with sharklet wing-tips and a Boeing 787-8. Airbus will also have an A350-900 test aircraft at the show wearing a hybrid scheme incorporating Qatar Airways branding.
It is not clear if Airbus will replace the Qatar Airways aircraft at Farnborough with another A380.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
