Tag Archives for qatar airways.
Parker has the challenge of reversing course after everything he’s said about the existential threat Qatar Airways posed to his airline. So how is he explaining the flip flop? He penned a letter to employees.
American Airlines announced a new strategic partnership with Qatar Airways that involves restoration of codesharing and exploring flying to Doha. This pretty much puts to rest speculation about Qatar Airways leaving oneworld
Qatar Airways owns 9.99% of Cathay Pacific, 5% of China Southern (double American’s stake), and 10% of LATAM. They owned 49% of Air Italy before that carrier shut down. Their biggest remaining investment is in IAG, the parent of British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Vueling and soon Air Europa.
Qatar owned 21.4% of the British Airways parent – and has now increased that to 25.1%.
Qatar Airways may be looking to buy stakes in 3 more airlines but they appear at risk of losing their investment in Air Italy, as the number two Italian airline is on the brink of bankruptcy. A special shareholders meeting is being held today.
CEO Akbar al Baker said they’re considering several new acquisitions, speaking at the Qatar Airways/CAPA Aeropolitical and Regulatory Summit in Doha.
Under consideration are stakes in Rwandair, IndiGo, and Royal Air Maroc – in addition to increasing their ownership position in LATAM.
American only just introduced online redemption of Etihad awards in May and it was a surprise to see at the time, since American has been in a political war with those two airlines, despite their partnerships, for the past four and a half years – and even terminated codeshares with both. I’m glad to see American continuing to invest in getting online redemption for Etihad and Qatar right.
British Airways has formed a joint venture with China Southern. British Airways has already moved its Beijing operations to the new Daxing airport there, and flights under the joint venture are for sale beginning January 2.
American owns a stake in China’s biggest airline but isn’t permitted to enter into a joint venture.
For the past few months there been a glitch with certain awards booked on the American Airlines website, where baggage allowance information wasn’t being added to tickets. The airline doesn’t have a solution yet, but they’re taking action to avoid spreading the problem.
Qatar Airways CEO Akbar al-Baker, the biggest troll in aviation, gave an interviewing suggesting American Airlines got outmaneuvered by Delta, that he thought their CEO would get replaced, and that he’s still considering leaving oneworld over bad relations with American.
With the continued blockade of Qatar led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE there are far fewer Qatar Airways short haul flights. That means fewer passengers with Al Safwa lounge access.
At the beginning of the year they started monetizing access to the lounge, upselling business class passengers initially for as little as $69 but more recently for $165. Now Qatar Airways has extended al Safwa lounge access to their Privilege Club Platinum members flying in business class.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
