Doha: Qatar Airways is open to revenue-sharing partnerships with airlines that are part of its global airline alliance, including British Airways , the chief executive of the Gulf carrier said yesterday.
Akbar Al Baker said Qatar Airways was in talks with British Airways, one of the founding members of oneworld alliance, on a codesharing agreement in which the airlines would share some flights and was open to stronger partnerships in the future.
“We will consider revenue-sharing partnerships with our oneworld partners,” Baker said on the sidelines of a business jet exhibition in Abu Dhabi. “But it will not just be revenue-sharing but also loss-sharing. We have to be able to support each other.”
Qatar Airways became a full member of oneworld alliance last October, the only Gulf carrier to join a global alliance. Oneworld was founded in 1998 by American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas.
State-backed Gulf carriers are expanding their global reach through partnerships with global airlines, while boosting their fleets.
Dubai’s Emirates partnered with Qantas last year, ending the Australian airline’s 17-year alliance with British Airways.
Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad Airways has taken minority stakes in several airlines, including Air Berlin, Virgin Australia and Aer Lingus.
He said his airline was still looking for opportunities to invest in European carriers. “We get a lot of offers. We may look at them,” he said without elaborating.
Qatar has made huge investments in infrastructure to establish itself as an international hub before it hosts the Fifa World Cup in 2022. The country is building the $15bn Hamad International Airport, which is to open this year and replace the existing main airport.
“We expect it to open in the second quarter of the year. The move will be two phases,” said Al Baker.
Low-cost airlines will move to the new airport first, followed by full-service carriers.
“We will move operations overnight and would require the current airport operations to be shut for about six to eight hours.”
He said his airline was looking to buy 10 more aircraft for its business jet operations.
“We are putting out a request for proposal for another 10 jets,” he said, without specifying the time-frame for placing an order.
Agencies
