[Anonymous]

[rferguson]

You’d never believe it but ‘His Excellency’ Akbar Al Baker in a very rare display has thrown his toys out of the pram (yes I am being sarcastic lol).

He is threatening to take QR out of OneWorld in retaliation to AA being one of the US3 trying to as he says ‘impede our growth’.

Despite the merits of his claims this guy once again just comes across as an egotistical dictator. He is a little bit like the middle eastern version of Michael O’Leary – let’s just be blunt and say it how it is no matter how gruff it comes across.

The article is in the WSJ – here is the link. Unfortunately you need a subscription to read the bulk of it but it gives the gist in the free version.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/qatar-airways-ceo-threatens-oneworld-exit-in-dispute-with-american-airlines-1433812547?mod=wsj_nview_latest

[AMcWhirter]

There’s also a Doha News report.

http://dohanews.co/qatar-airways-ceo-threatens-to-leave-oneworld-alliance-over-subsidy-row/

[dutchyankee]

Doesn’t Qatar Airways have a 10% holding in IAG??? Sort of a ‘vested’ interest in my view to remain in OW, no?

[rferguson]

Thanks Alex!

I wonder whether BA will get dragged into the row due to its partial ownership by QR versus it’s JSA with AA.

In fairness, I think AA has been the least vocal of the US3.

[dutchyankee]

rferguson, I agree, I think the CEO of Delta has really been the driving force on this issue.

[AnthonyDunn]

@ rferguson – 09/06/2015 11:32 BST

After Al Baker’s comments about why cannot the residents of west London live with sleepless nights and put up with 24/7 operations at LHR (okay, I am exaggerating to a minor extent), then I am unsurprised at anything that he comes out with.

Oh, and BTW, I assume you meant that American had been the least vocal of the US3?

[rferguson]

Anthonydunn – I did indeed mean ‘least’ and have corrected. Thanks!

Totally agree with your comments on His Excellency. He seems to have a bad case of chip on the shoulder. The CEO’s of EY and EK whom both potentially have a lot more to lose with the US3 spat than QR are able to calmly and diplomatically put their points forward. Al Baker just seems to come across as all that Qatar seems to represent in the media of late.

Wasn’t it just the other week he was quoted in the media as saying that he would see the Netherlands lose trade deals with Qatar because they wanted to limit slots of the ME3 at AMS?

[Str8Talking]

Maybe we will see BA and QR move away from OW and build a new alliance with all their acquisitions a la Etihad!

[PeterCoultas]

maybe AABaker should be subject to sharia law and be forced to bite his tongue as that is clearly an “offending member” – I would be generous and not require it to be chopped off!

[FaroFlyer]

From reading the Doha News article it seems that a main motivation for joining OW may have been access to AA booking system to see where transfer traffic went on to. A more cynical person might think that was so QR could plan future expansion into the USA.

[MrDarwin]

I for one am all for QR remaining in OW. My Priv Club points have sky rocketed since they did. It does seem though that QR don’t seem to be integrating well with OW partners, as others still seem to have code sharing agreements with Etihad and Emirates. I would have thought closer ties between AA and QR, and QF and QR going the other way, would have come to fruition by now after joining OW but perhaps there’s behind the scenes commercial and political reasons why this hasn’t happened.

[rferguson]

I think the ethos of Oneworld has always been to not be quite as tightly integrated as the other alliances and allow the individual airlines to form alliances outside OW which work for them.

QF is an example. They are somewhat the whore of Oneworld. Obviously their biggest joint partner is EK. QR has very little presence in Australia and none in NZ (only DOH-PER/MEL daily). EK on the other hand flies to most capital cities – it even serves ADL where not even QF has an international departure as well as twice (or three times?) daily from PER where Qantas’ ‘long haul’ operation is a single 737 service to SIN. There is no way QR could give QF what EK is able to. And I don’t think EK would be enamoured with the idea of QF working with QR.

We see other examples as well – QF is trying to get approval for a joint business (so far refused with the competition authorities) with MU for OZ – China traffic. Oneworlds CX and Stars NZ also have a joint business AKL – HKG. Etihad has a stake in and a joint business with Air Berlin of OW.

I think QR had to chose one of three options

– do what EK did and try to take over the world. I imagine it would have had limited success as there probably is just not enough traffic to justify another reach for the universe mega carrier so close to home.
– do what EY did and not join an alliance but form their own quasi alliance by buying small stakes in other airlines.
– or join an established alliance to extend their reach globally.

I think it made the right choice but it’s CEO has to realise that he does not run the alliance. Each of the individual airlines are still able to do what is best for their own business.

[superchris]

I do wonder whether the fear of losing the world cup is somehow contributing to QR’s angst here, in an alleged US led legal assault on FIFA (or at least that was Putin’s accusation).

Utterly fascinating.

[WillieWelsh]

I can only say I am delighted to have seen the arrival of Etihad at my home airport of Edinburgh. Connections on Qatar to the gulf and beyond have been very useful but now there is a choice I will almost certainly take it. Hogan is so much more steady and sensible than Al-Baker and the culture at Etihad is so much more pleasant and positive.

[Author]

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