Airline News
“I don’t care”: Al Baker to smaller Gulf carriers
December 2nd 2014
Often outspoken Qatar Airways chief executive officer (CEO) has done it again. During a panel discussion at the Arab Air Carriers Organisation annual general meeting (AGM) in Dubai last week, he said he wanted there to be three “growing airlines” in the Gulf region – Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways. Read More » When the moderator asked him what of the others, including Air Arabia, flydubai, Gulf Air, Kuwait Airways and Oman Air, Al Baker said: “I don’t care”.
Al Baker also offered that he was open to privatising Qatar Airways once its rapid growth has stabilised. The chiefs of EgyptAir and Oman Air said they were also currently deliberating the idea of privatisation.
The CEO didn’t fail to take another dig at Qatar Airways’ European rivals when he called their operations “inefficient”, particularly “blaming” workers’ unions for costing the European airlines a lot of money whilst frequently grounding their fleets.
Meanwhile, Al Baker last week said the three-month delay in the arrival of its first superjumbo Airbus A380 has cost the airline more than US$200 million in revenue. Asked if Qatar Airways would join Emirates in its call for a more fuel-efficient engine for the A380, the CEO said “it is premature for us to talk about this”. He added: “I don’t think that Airbus is today in a position to re-engine the A380 with the numbers of orders they have.”
