Qatar to Emirates: We could be mates, too
Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker has said he is “always open” to the possibility of an alliance with Dubai-based Emirates Airline.
He told Arabian Business that the integration of the two fast-growing Gulf carriers would strength both airlines and would benefit the region as a whole.
“We are always open [to an alliance with Emirates Airline],” Al Baker said while on a visit to Dubai for Arabian Travel Market.
“I think now the closeness between Emirates and Qatar Airways will really make a very strong airline.”
Despite the Doha-based airline announcing it is set to be fully integrated into the oneworld alliance from September, Al Baker pointed to Emirates’ recent alliance with Australian rival Qantas as an example the Dubai airline was open to integration.
“You never know: Did you ever expect only one year ago that Emirates and Qantas would get together?
“Things in aviation can move fast. Integration of Emirates and Qatar Airways will benefit this region and will make the two airlines even stronger than they are today.”
However, the chances of that happening appear to be slim.
Last year, Emirates’ president Tim Clark said an Emirates-Qatar alliance would have “seismic repercussions in the aeropolitical framework”.
“You put the two together and you would face the most formidable international airline group that has ever been formed. That’s why it will never happen,” he was quoted as saying by Aviation Week.
Last week Qatar Airways announced it would resume Boeing 787 Dreamliner flights from London on May 15, four months after all 787s were grounded worldwide due to safety concerns.
The Doha-based carrier has already resumed 787 flights on services from Doha to Dubai.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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