Qatar Airways to start Indian airline soon, says CEO Al Baker
MUMBAI: Qatar Airways is preparing to launch a full-service airline in India and will file its application soon, chief executive Akbar Al Baker said. The proposed airline will be funded by Qatar’s sovereign fund, Al Baker told PTI on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association’s annual general meeting in Sydney on Wednesday.
“It would have Indians heading the board and as most of its members,” Al Baker said a day after he was appointed the chairman of IATA’s board of governors. “We will move the application soon. I don’t know really by when because it (the process) takes time,” Al Baker added.
India permits 100% foreign direct investment in domestic airlines, but foreign airlines can invest only up to 49%. There are three full-service carriers in India namely Air India, Jet Air- ways and Vistara Airlines.
Qatar Airways had in March 2017 first expressed its desire to operate an airline in India. In December 2017, the airline had said it would like to add more flights to India in the future as the country is an economic superpower and an important destination for it. In February, 2018 Al Baker had said that it plans to launch an airline in India with at least 100 planes.
“I will not tell you what types of aeroplanes we will deploy in India, but as you may remember, we said that we will launch an airline in India which will have a fleet of at least 100 aircraft,” he had said.
PTI contributed to this story.