Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad International) will be privatised within the next ten years airline chief executive Akbar al Baker has told France's La Tribune newspaper.

During his interview, published last week, al Baker said the move would only occur once Qatar Airways is "in a position of strength." He also valued the wholly state-owned carrier at "more than USD10 billion".

Qatar Airways had previously planned to IPO in 2010 only to scrap those plans in the wake of the global financial crisis. The downturn delayed the carrier from achieving its break-even point.

As such, al Baker's comments come at a time when Qatar Airways, along with Emirates and Etihad Airways (the ME3), have come under renewed fire from rival airlines in Europe and the United States over allegations they have unfairly benefitted from illegal state subsidies.

The US State Department last year held informal talks with each of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over the distortive effect their alleged (in)direct assistance to each of the ME3 was having on the US3 - American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Air Lines - and the international market. The US3 collectively claims the ME3 has unfairly benefitted from USD50 billion of state subsidies over the last ten years which has enabled them to undercut US carriers. This, they assert, has negatively impacted their profitability as well as the US job market.

While no formal resolution was reached, Delta's CEO Ed Bastian said during a 4Q16 Results Earnings Call last week that the incoming Trump administration would be engaged over the situation. The US3 will presumably attempt to leverage Donald Trump's election pledge to boost domestic job growth while reconsidering trade pacts deemed prejudicial to the US.

"I think we have already provided some input into the [Trump] transition team and it will take some time over the next few months as things become a little more clear and individuals are staffed into new roles, but we are very excited," he said.

For their part, the ME3 have denied any wrongdoing. They argue the Qatari and UAE governments have acted well within their shareholder's rights whenever a recapitalization of any of the affected airlines has been undertaken.