Qatar Airways signed an agreement with FIFA to sponsor 2 World Cup tournaments until 2022, filling a spot left vacant by rival Emirates when it quit its sponsorship following corruption allegations at soccer’s global governing body. The carrier will become FIFA’s official partner and airline for the 2018 World Cup in Russia and 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where the Persian Gulf country will host the most-watched event in global sports for the first time in the region. The deal provides Qatar Airways with marketing and branding rights at the events, with an expected audience of more than 2b people per tournament. The airline declined to disclose the value of the deal, which also covers this year’s Confederations Cup, a warm-up event. Emirates’ contract began in 2006 and concluded in 2014. <br/>
oneworld
The financial turbulence being felt by Cathay Pacific Airways has filtered into Air China, which has come in with losses of its own way below market consensus for early 2017. The carrier’s net profit dropped 39.8% to CNY1.5b (US$72.8m) in Q1,which was in part blamed on its investment losses of CNY141.6m, the majority of which was from Cathay, of which it owns 29.99%. Cathay itself expectedly swung into loss of HK$575m ($73.8m) in 2016 and has projected just as turbulent times ahead this year. Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon carried a combined 2,851,661 passengers in March, 3.7% fewer than March last year. The carrier unveiled a 3-year transformation plan in January to revive its business, investing in technology and a fuel-efficient fleet to save costs, while redeploying staff. <br/>