Akbar al-Baker, chief executive officer of Qatar Airways, says he will scrutinise the “fine print” of the Indian government’s decision to lift the cap on foreign direct investment in Indian carriers, before taking a decision on investing in Indian carriers.
Commenting on rumours that Qatar is discussing investment with Indian carriers, al-Baker said: “Whenever some private airlines want to boost their share price, they bring Qatar Airways to the picture”, adding that Qatar Airways always takes “substantial ownership” in an airline … never a minority stake.
“But we cannot take a majority stake in an airline because as soon as we take majority stake in an airline, it is no more a national carrier and then we lose traffic rights. If opportunities arise for picking substantial stake in an airline, we will consider,” al-Baker said.
Qatar confirmed that they were not in alliance talks with any airline.