DOHA: Qatar Airways (QA) has expressed interest to buy equity in one of India’s leading private carrier, IndiGo, if the latter agrees to offer 49 percent stake, Al Sharq reported yesterday, quoting a senior official of QA. “If IndiGo offers us 49 percent, QA would be extremely interested,” Akbar Al Baker, Group Chief Executive, QA, was quoted as telling reporters on the sidelines of the global launch of the world’s newest Airbus A350XWB on Wednesday. Al Baker also expressed desire that India opens up its aviation sector for established carriers like QA. “We would be able to deliver what they (India) want faster than all the new entrants in the Indian market.”
Cairo: Egypt said yesterday it will hold parliamentary elections from March 21. The elections, in phases culminating on May 7, will be the first since President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi overthrew his Islamist predecessor Mohamed Mursi on July 21. But with Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood crushed in a crackdown that has left hundreds dead and even secular opposition groups hit by jail terms, the elections are likely to be dominated by Sisi loyalists. The vote will be held under a complex electoral system that was designed to produce as representative a parliament as possible. Some of the 567 seats will be contested on nationwide party lists. After ousting Mursi, Sisi announced a political roadmap that envisaged adopting a new constitution, to be followed by presidential and parliamentary elections.
Washington: The US military will close a major air base in Britain and withdraw from 14 other installations across Europe as part of a reorganisation of forces, the Pentagon said yesterday. Operations at RAF Mildenhall in Britain will end as part of a money-saving consolidation plan that will result “in a slight decrease in our force levels” in the region but no loss to US military power, the Pentagon said. Agencies
