Qatar Airways is expecting to reduce its losses in the fiscal year ending in March after a surge in sales had led to an improvement in load factors, claimed the Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Akbar Al Baker at a media briefing during the Kuwait Aviation Show 2020, and attended by Bloomberg.
“Our losses are half of what we budgeted,” Al Baker said on January 15. Reducing costs and “being very aggressive in the way we sell” has resulted in the improvement. The CEO explained that the losses were not caused by the Saudi Arabia-led blockade of the country but were due to higher operating expenses, including increased fuel prices, and that he expected that the airline would break-even in the next financial year (FY) and could post profits in FY2021-22.
Al Baker also discussed his continued interest in acquiring a stake in IndiGo Airlines (6E, Delhi Int'l). The Oneworld carrier is ready to buy as much as the Indian airline "can give us" said the CEO. The two airlines already have a codeshare agreement and are looking to increase capacity on the busiest routes between India and Qatar in the wake of Jet Airways' demise in April last year.
Also during the media briefing, Al Baker stated that Qatar Airways would continue to fly to Iran despite the recent tensions between the Middle East country and the US, and the Ukraine International Airlines (PS, Kyiv Boryspil) B737-800 crash. The Middle Eastern carrier flies from Doha Hamad Int'l 38x weekly to Iran, with 22x weekly flights to Tehran Imam Khomeini, daily routes to Mashad and Shiraz, and a 2x weekly service to Isfahan Int'l.
19/01/20 ch-aviation
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“Our losses are half of what we budgeted,” Al Baker said on January 15. Reducing costs and “being very aggressive in the way we sell” has resulted in the improvement. The CEO explained that the losses were not caused by the Saudi Arabia-led blockade of the country but were due to higher operating expenses, including increased fuel prices, and that he expected that the airline would break-even in the next financial year (FY) and could post profits in FY2021-22.
Al Baker also discussed his continued interest in acquiring a stake in IndiGo Airlines (6E, Delhi Int'l). The Oneworld carrier is ready to buy as much as the Indian airline "can give us" said the CEO. The two airlines already have a codeshare agreement and are looking to increase capacity on the busiest routes between India and Qatar in the wake of Jet Airways' demise in April last year.
Also during the media briefing, Al Baker stated that Qatar Airways would continue to fly to Iran despite the recent tensions between the Middle East country and the US, and the Ukraine International Airlines (PS, Kyiv Boryspil) B737-800 crash. The Middle Eastern carrier flies from Doha Hamad Int'l 38x weekly to Iran, with 22x weekly flights to Tehran Imam Khomeini, daily routes to Mashad and Shiraz, and a 2x weekly service to Isfahan Int'l.
19/01/20 ch-aviation
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