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- Airbus (OTCPK:EADSF, OTCPK:EADSY) -2% in Europe on news it canceled Qatar Airways' contract for 50 A321 neo jets, in an escalation of the ongoing dispute between Airbus and its largest customer.
- Airbus revealed it was revoking the contract in skeletal arguments presented during pre-trial proceedings over grounded and undelivered A350 jets yesterday at Britain's High Court.
- Qatar Airways is expected to fight the A321 contract's termination, according to reports, having said it plans to take delivery of the jets even though it is refusing to take more A350s until a dispute over surface erosion on the larger planes has been resolved.
- Separately, Bloomberg reports that ~4K employees at an Airbus wing assembly plant in Broughton in Wales are set to vote on strike action after rejecting a pay offer.
- Qatar initiated a $600M-plus compensation claim last month, saying Airbus had failed to provide a full root-cause analysis needed to satisfy questions over the airworthiness of the A350 fleet.