LONDON—Airbus has carried out design changes to A350 passenger jets amid a $2 billion dispute with Qatar Airways over surface damage, which spilled over to a debate on security on Thursday.
The two companies have been fighting in court for months over the safety impact of flaking paint that exposed corrosion or gaps in a sub-layer of metallic lightning protection.
At the heart of the case is a sandwich of copper foil between the carbon fuselage and outer paint on A350 jets, designed to allow lightning strikes to wash away safely.
Reuters first reported in November 2021 that Airbus was studying a new type known as perforated copper foil (PCF), initially because it was lighter than the current expanded copper foil (ECF), but also because it would ease cracking….