“Do you want to buy SAS?”

“No.”

“Do you want to buy Finnair?”

“No.”

This is how Qatar Airways  Chief Executive, His Excellency Akbar Al Baker told TTO Scandinavia at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai.

Qatar Airways has otherwise been active in acquisitions in airlines around the world. Qatar Airways now owns 20 percent of IAG (British Airways, Spanish Iberia, Irish Aer Lingus and Spanish Low cost carrier Vueling) has purchased 10 percent of South America’s largest airline LATAM, Chile, which was formed in a tie-up between Chile’s LAN and Brazil’s TAM.

Qatar Airways is also interested in Royal Air Maroc, and owns 49% of Meridiana, Italy.

In a few weeks Qatar Airways will start a new domestic airline in India with 100 aircrafts. Qatar Airways flies to Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo and Helsinki.

But buying in Scandinavia is not interesting, said Al Baker.

British Airways

“Why should Qatar Airways buy in SAS and Finnair when Qatar Airways can earn money, while SAS and Finnair have historically been bad to make money.

I think they are afraid to do a bad business. I think Qatar Airways will strengthen its position in Denmark, Sweden, Norway And Finland with organic growth.

Therefore, Qatar Airways is also started flying to Finland,”says Jacob Pedersen, share analyst manager, Sydbank, Denmark to TTO Scandinavia.

“Qatar Airways can only buy up to 49 percent of SAS and Finnair. However, if a company must have full value of an ownership, the company must be owned 100 percent.

Airline companies from the Middle East have also been a little back now because oil prices have fallen and their owners therefore have less income.”

“But Scandinavia is a rich market where residents have high income and travel a lot?”

“Yes, it seems as if airlines forget to look at the travel pattern and revenue conditions in Scandinavia. They may fear a too low population base.”

“Who will then buy SAS?”

“If SAS is to be sold, I no longer think Lufthansa is interested. They concentrate on the acquisition of low-cost airlines.

KLM / Air France has major problems getting their own business to make profit.

IAG (British Airways, Spanish Iberia, Irish Aer Lingus and Spanish low-fare Vueling) look much more than an obvious buyer of SAS. They fit well, and IAG buys up in other airlines. Here there would be more appetite to buy SAS and you have a greater organizational surplus to handle it, “says Jacob Pedersen.

Turmoil

Qatar took advantage of the stock market turmoil sparked by Britain’s decision to leave to European Union to boost its stake to 20 % in British Airways-owner International Airlines.

“The recent market valuation” of IAG had provided “an attractive opportunity”,” said Al Baker.

It means Qatar Airways is by far IAG’s largest investor and wields considerable influence over the aviation giant.

Like other airline stocks, IAG shares plunged in the wake of the June EU referendum and touched their lowest level since October 2014 amid investor fears the vote to leave Europe will hit the travel industry.

The BA owner was hit particularly hard because the company sounded a profit alert within hours of the referendum result, warning it had suffered a softening in customer demand in the run-up to the vote.

Qatar Airways Group employs more than 40,000 people. 24,000 of them work directly for the airline.

Qatar Airways said at Arabian Travel Market (ATM) that it was on track to expand to 26 new global destinations.

New destinations the airline will launch in 2018: San Francisco, USA, Cardiff, United Kingdom; Utapao, Thailand; Chittagong, Bangladesh; Mykonos, Greece; Málaga, Spain; Accra, Ghana; Lisbon, Portugal; Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Prague, Czech Republic; Kiev, Ukraine, Las Vegas, USA and Mombasa, Kenya.

Akbar Al Baker was happy with ATM: “The Arabian Travel Market has always been one of our most anticipated events of the year for the opportunities it brings, and 2017 proved to be no exception. We are delighted with the outcome of our participation at the Arabian Travel Market, where we demonstrated our continued commitment to innovation and growth, and showcased our ground-breaking Business Class Qsuite, reinforcing Qatar Airways’ leading position to the global travel, tourism and hospitality industries.”

Qatar Airways in June will be announcing record profit, Al Baker said.

“It will be the highest profit Qatar Airways has ever made.”

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