Qatar Airways CE rejects consolidation in Gulf
Qatar Airways' CE, Akbar al-Baker, said he does not support regional consolidation, and rejected any need for the Gulf region to join in the trend for mergers elsewhere in the world. Some industry experts doubt whether the Gulf region needs Qatar Airways and rivals Emirates and Etihad with their 3 big hub airports, all within a small geographic area. In other aviation markets, such as the US, the number of airlines has shrunk as carriers have consolidated, helping them become more profitable, so much so that US airlines now account for more than half of global earnings in the airline industry. But the CE of Qatar Airways said consolidation could be bad for consumers. "I don't agree with consolidation, always done to extract capacity and jack up prices," al-Baker said, pointing to US carriers as an example. <br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2016-01-25/oneworld/qatar-airways-ce-rejects-consolidation-in-gulf
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Qatar Airways CE rejects consolidation in Gulf
Qatar Airways' CE, Akbar al-Baker, said he does not support regional consolidation, and rejected any need for the Gulf region to join in the trend for mergers elsewhere in the world. Some industry experts doubt whether the Gulf region needs Qatar Airways and rivals Emirates and Etihad with their 3 big hub airports, all within a small geographic area. In other aviation markets, such as the US, the number of airlines has shrunk as carriers have consolidated, helping them become more profitable, so much so that US airlines now account for more than half of global earnings in the airline industry. But the CE of Qatar Airways said consolidation could be bad for consumers. "I don't agree with consolidation, always done to extract capacity and jack up prices," al-Baker said, pointing to US carriers as an example. <br/>
