Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad International) is to tentatively join Oneworld in October this year, the airline's CEO, Akbar al-Baker has said. Speaking in Dubai recently, Mr al-Baker said that Qatar Airways was "well advanced in integrating its processes and systems" with the global alliance, paving the way for it to become its second Middle Eastern carrier alongside Royal Jordanian (RJ, Amman Queen Alia), who joined in 2007. In a related development, British Airways (BA, London Heathrow), the sponsors of Qatar Airways' entry into the alliance, are said to be in discussions with the Gulf carrier regarding a possible joint venture on routes between Australia and the UK. Should a deal come about, it would replace a similar one BA had with Qantas (QF, Sydney Kingsford Smith) but which ended when the Australian carrier tied up with Emirates (EK, Dubai International) in March this year.