Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad International) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Akbar al Baker has confirmed that in addition to the Qatari carrier's acquisition of a 49% stake in Italy's Meridiana fly (Olbia), the Qatari carrier is planning to make two further investments in 2017.
"We will be making some interesting announcements soon," he told CAPA in an interview. "We have two other projects in the pipeline which you will get to know."
Although al Baker did not specify which airlines the Qataris would invest in, recent reports have linked it to Royal Air Maroc (AT, Casablanca Mohamed V) as well as Indian carrier Air Costa (Vijayawada).
Aside from shareholder investments, al Baker said Qatar Airways is also considering strategic partnerships without equity. Among the airlines it is seeking deeper ties with is fellow Oneworld member, American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth), with which it already has a bilateral relationship.
According to al Baker, Qatar Airways hopes American will end its existing ties with Etihad Airways (EY, Abu Dhabi International) to work solely with Qatar in the Gulf. If that should occur, and if Qatar Airways and American were to enter into a joint-venture, the CEO believes that could then pave the way for another very lucrative joint-venture - with IAG International Airlines Group/British Airways (BA, London Heathrow).
"I'm a businessman and I would be delighted to do this with American," he said. "I think the American Airlines administration has been misled by Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) and I think in the long run they will realise that a partnership with Qatar Airways is a very robust business proposition for them."
Qatar Airways' ties with American have featured in the news of late given the ongoing battle between the US3 (American, Delta, and United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare)) and the ME3 (Qatar Airways, Etihad, and Emirates (EK, Dubai International)) carriers. The US-based airlines have demanded Washington renegotiate the terms of the United States' Open Skies Treaties with each of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates over their concerns the ME3 have unfairly benefitted from both direct and indirect state subsidization.
Meanwhile, in related news, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has fined Qatar Airways USD185,000 for operating flights in regions in which an FAA flight prohibition was in effect. The regulator says the violations involved sixteen Qatar Airways flights, operated as codeshares with American Airlines, of which eight involved flying over Yemen, seven over restricted parts of Iraq, and one over Ukrainian airspace.
