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Qatar Air chief calls out ‘bullying’ US airlines
Thursday, 25 Apr, 2017
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Qatar Airways chief Akbar al-Baker has cranked up his war of words with US airlines accusing them of ‘bullying’ but still remains bullish on the US market.
The airline will continue to expand and announced a new route to San Francisco.
Qatar will begin the service sometime in 2018 but gave no other details.
"We didn’t have massive decline like other carriers so we still have robust loads to the United States and we will continue our commitment to our passengers in the United States," Al Baker told the AP.
"President Trump is a wise individual and a very good businessman, and I don’t think he will buy into bullying by the three American carriers," he added on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai.
Referring to US airlines’ continued calls for the US government to take action against Gulf carriers, al-Baker said: "Two US administrations, under Mr Obama and Mr Trump, have now looked at this and found nothing. They [the US carriers] only operate routes where they can swindle their customers, they do not represent the United States."
The San Francisco route is part of a dozen new routes for the Doha-based airline.
"The U.S. is not the entire world. We have a lot of other opportunities, a lot of other new markets which we will keep expanding to."
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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