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Qatar Airways will not invest in Malaysia Airlines
August 30th 2019
CEO Al Baker meets with Malaysia's prime minister. Read More »
A picture can be worth a thousand words. So naturally there was interest when Qatar Airways this week tweeted a photo of Group CEO Akbar Al Baker meeting with Malaysian prime minister, Mahathir bin Mohamad. There was added interest in the occasion when Qatar said the two met “to discuss issues of mutual interest” without further elaboration.
Mahathir has been shopping Malaysia Airlines (MAS) around for a new investor while the Financial Times and Malaysian media reports said Qatar Airways already had submitted a takeover bid. Qatar has invested in other oneworld airlines - IAG, LATAM and Cathay Pacific - and in the independent Meridiana, which re-branded to Air Italy.
In response to the high-profile photo, Qatar Airways wanted to make a few words clear: Qatar would not buy MAS. The airline reiterated remarks Al Baker made in Malaysia, where he was promoting a new tag service to Langkawi from Qatar’s existing flight to Penang. This will be the first regular non-Asian flight for Langkawi, Mahathir’s political constituency. Al Baker also met Malaysian minister of transport Anthony Loke Siew Fook.
Malaysian media speculated the government is still trying to woo Qatar. While a Qatar investment in MAS would represent another oneworld member in which Qatar has equity, Qatar’s previous oneworld investments were blue-chip airlines. Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional has injected RM24 billion (US$5.8 billion) into MAS since 2011.
