Airline News
Qatar Airways to increase IAG investment?
March 9th 2015
Qatar Airways chief, Akbar Al Baker, told reporters at last week’s ITB in Berlin that he would like to raise the airline’s investment in British Airways/Iberia parent company, International Airlines Group (IAG). Read More » Qatar Airways acquired a 9.99% stake in IAG for $1.73 billion in January. The move is expected to provide the Gulf carrier with greater access to the lucrative transatlantic market, while British Airways would gain a stronger foothold in India and across the Asia-Pacific.
Qatar Airways will also keep investing in other well-managed carriers to diversify its income from the main airline. "We will look at other acquisitions of airlines but we look at airlines that don't take the resources of Qatar, or the attention of Qatar management, to fix issues. We will always go after goldsmiths, not scrap dealers." That said, Al Baker reiterated his interest in India’s IndiGo: "I think domestic airlines in India are inefficiently run. The only one efficiently run is IndiGo. If we have the opportunity to acquire a stake in IndiGo we shall be very pleased to do so," he said. In February, a Delhi meeting between Al-Baker, and IndiGo’s majority-owner, Rahul Bhatia, sparked speculation that a deal between the two carriers could be imminent.
Qatar Airways last week received its second A350-900 and expects to take delivery of seven more this year. It has ordered 80 of Airbus’ latest long-haul jet and Al Baker said the first aircraft’s performance and dispatch reliability had exceeded expectations. The Qatar Airways chief added he was no longer interested in Bombardier’s CSeries because the airline could not “wait indefinitely” for the heavily-delayed new single-aisle aircraft. The Doha-based carrier last week announced the addition of A320 services to the Pakistani ports of Faisalabad (3x), Sialkot (4x) and Multan (3x) from July/August.
