Qatar Airways resumes A350 deliveries

Air India CEO backs stalling foreign carrier access to India

The CEO of Air India (AI, Mumbai International) has called on the Indian government to continue carefully managing any additional capacity rights it allocates to foreign carriers, arguing that local airlines need the chance to grow first and become more effective competitors.

“I think the strategy is to contain traffic rights expansion so that local airlines have the opportunity to spin up and attain scale and become competitive," Campbell Wilson told the Hindustan Times, adding that traffic liberalisation can and should happen after this occurs.

"A balance that has to be struck, allowing the market to grow but also incubate your local market because that's fundamentally the most beneficial thing you can do for the economy," he said. "The idea is to support Indian aviation. I think it's the right thing to do for the development of Indian aviation, and also Indian business and international connectivity."

Multiple foreign operators are seeking new or additional traffic rights in and out of India. However, the Indian government has declined to grant them, being keen to shore up...

Air Belgium retires last A330-200F

Air Belgium (KF, Brussels Charleroi) retired its last A330-200F in mid-October 2023, ch-aviation research has revealed.

OO-SEA (msn 1594) completed its last long-term ACMI contract for Air France at the end of September. It flew its final single cargo charter from Marseilles to N'Djamena and return on October 5, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows. It was then ferried from Brussels National to Châteauroux Déols Marcel Dassault on return to the lessor on October 16.

The aircraft was the last of four ex-Qatar Airways freighters operated by Air Belgium under a CMI deal with French logistics giant CMA CGM. The other three were already moved to the firm's in-house carrier CMA CGM Air Cargo.

The airline's cargo fleet comprises two A330-200(P2F)s and three B747-8Fs (of which one is parked for maintenance). It also operates two A330-200s and two A330-900s. The carrier is currently in judicial restructuring after exiting its "chronically unprofitable" scheduled passenger operations.

Qatar Airways tax evasion investigation underway in India

A long-running investigation by Indian financial crime agencies into alleged tax evasion by Middle Eastern airlines has recently focused on Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad International) and resulted in a request for documents from the airline and searches of the Indian offices of several Middle Eastern carriers.

The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI), the Indian law enforcement agency responsible for tax evasion, led the office searches in October, which included searches of Qatar Airways' premises. Saying the focus on the Qatari airline was still in its "very initial stage," a DGGI spokesperson has also told Indian media outlets that the agency had uncovered incidents of tax evasion totalling INR57 billion rupees (USD685.1 million) involving over 6,000 fake instances of input tax credit claims between April 2020 and September. It is unclear whether the figures relate specifically to Qatar Airways or also include the other carriers under investigation. ch-aviation does not say that Qatar Airways or any other carrier has evaded taxes in India, only that allegations have been made and an investigation is underway.

Islamabad continues talks with Qatar about PIA stake

The Pakistani government continues to talk to the Qatari government about the latter taking a stake in PIA - Pakistan International Airlines (PK, Islamabad International). Pakistan's Minister for Privatisation Fawad Hasan Fawad has recently had a series of meetings with Qatari officials, according to The Nation newspaper, with discussions proceeding "in a smooth manner."

Pakistan's government is attempting to partially privatise its loss-making state-owned carrier and has recently appointed a Ernst & Young led consortium to advise on the sale. However, reports of Qatar taking a stake in PIA are not new. Fifteen months ago, ch-aviation reported on plans by the Pakistani government to offer Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad International) a 51% stake (and operational control) of PIA.

An internal Pakistan government report on the partial privatisation says it will involve a large severance payout to an unspecified number of employees who will lose their jobs if the privatisation occurs. PIA's employee-per-aircraft ratio has historically been high. While ongoing efforts have reduced that ratio, the current level is unlikely to be...