Qatar Airways would like to raise its stake in the owner of British Airways and Iberia at some point and may invest in other well-run airlines, its chief executive said on Wednesday.
Qatar Airways bought a 9.99 percent stake in International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) in January, aiming to forge closer ties to a company with two major European hubs and strong transatlantic networks.
Asked whether Qatar Airways would like to buy more of its oneworld partner, Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said: "Yes, we would like to increase our stake in IAG at a later date. We have just taken a shareholding: we could add value to them and they will add value to us."
Qatar Airways will also keep investing in other well-managed carriers to diversify its income from the main airline.
"We will look at other acquisitions of airlines but we look at airlines that don't take the resources of Qatar, or attention of Qatar management, to fix issues. We will always go after goldsmiths, not scrap dealers."
That could include India's IndiGo, if any of the privately-owned budget carrier became available to buy.
"I think domestic airlines in India are inefficiently run. The only one efficiently run is IndiGo. If we have the opportunity to acquire a stake in IndiGo we shall be very pleased to do so," Al Baker said.
05/03/15 Business World
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Qatar Airways bought a 9.99 percent stake in International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) in January, aiming to forge closer ties to a company with two major European hubs and strong transatlantic networks.
Asked whether Qatar Airways would like to buy more of its oneworld partner, Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said: "Yes, we would like to increase our stake in IAG at a later date. We have just taken a shareholding: we could add value to them and they will add value to us."
Qatar Airways will also keep investing in other well-managed carriers to diversify its income from the main airline.
"We will look at other acquisitions of airlines but we look at airlines that don't take the resources of Qatar, or attention of Qatar management, to fix issues. We will always go after goldsmiths, not scrap dealers."
That could include India's IndiGo, if any of the privately-owned budget carrier became available to buy.
"I think domestic airlines in India are inefficiently run. The only one efficiently run is IndiGo. If we have the opportunity to acquire a stake in IndiGo we shall be very pleased to do so," Al Baker said.
05/03/15 Business World
