SYDNEY: Emirates is not planning to buy a stake in Australian airline Qantas, a report said yesterday, despite the government moving to loosen foreign ownership restrictions on the struggling carrier.
Canberra wants to alter ownership rules to allow greater foreign investment in the national airline, to help Qantas raise much-needed capital and put it on a more even footing with domestic competitors.
But Emirates Chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum said his company, the Middle East’s largest airline whose profits surged 43 percent in 2013, had no plans to buy a stake.
“As we stated when the partnership began, neither airline is looking to take an equity stake in the other,” Sheikh Ahmed told the Australian Financial Review.
In December, Emirates president Tim Clark also ruled out throwing a financial lifeline to the embattled Australian flag carrier, which became an alliance partner a year ago, a move seen as vital to the sustainability of Qantas.
The partnership allows both carriers to combine operations for an initial period of five years, including coordinating ticket prices and schedules, and has opened up Qantas’s lucrative Australian domestic network of more than 50 destinations to Emirates customers.
AFP
