The airline said it wouldn't take delivery of the A350s on order with the manufacturer if they have similar paint quality issues as Qatari carrier's A350s have.
"We made it absolutely clear in Toulouse now that, if we have the same problem on one of our aircraft, we won’t take them over," Tim Clark told industry publication AirlineRatings.
"Our engineers looked at these A350s and said they are not in a good shape. So we say to Toulouse: by the delivery of the A350, you will have cracked this problem, otherwise, you will face us with no deliveries either," he was reported saying.
Airbus and Qatar Airways are locked in a dispute over the contractual and safety implications of paint and lightning protection damage on A350 passenger jets. Qatari authorities have ordered the national airline 21 of its A350 jets as it was considered a safety issue.
Airbus accepts the problem but insists it is a technical problem rather than a safety issue.
