Qatar Air plans to buy a 10 percent stake in American Airlines
Two of the global airline industry’s biggest adversaries could be about to join hands in an unholy alliance.
The world’s biggest carrier American Airlines disclosed that Qatar Airways wants to buy up to 10% of its stock.
American disclosed the fact in a securities filing, which immediately sparked a bump in its share price.
Qatar Airways notified American it wishes to buy stock on the open market worth about $808 million.
Although American and Qatar are both members of the oneworld alliance, they have been at loggerheads over perceived ‘unfair’ state subsidies which American and other major US carriers say threaten American jobs in the industry.
The US carrier’s view remains the same.
"American Airlines continues to believe that the President and his administration will stand up to foreign governments to end massive carrier subsidies that threaten the US aviation industry and that threaten American jobs," the company said in the filing.
AA said any investment by Qatar Air would not have any bearing on its current operations, management structure or business strategy.
Still, CEO Doug Parker says having Qatar Air as a shareholder doesn’t really make any sense.
"While anyone can purchase our shares in the open market, we aren’t particularly excited about Qatar’s outreach, and we find it puzzling given our extremely public stance on the illegal subsidies that Qatar, Emirates and Etihad have all received over the years from their governments," he said in a letter addressed to employees.
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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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