Al Baker says Qatar Airways could leave oneworld in 2019

Qatar Airways Group CEO Akbar Al Baker said Oct. 18 in New York that its oneworld membership is in question and the Doha-based carrier could leave the alliance in 2019. Even though he stressed the importance of the airline’s position in oneworld—describing it as one of the most important tools for collective action in serving customer needs—he suggested some alliance members, especially the US Big Three carriers—American Airlines, Delta and United—were not on good terms with the Middle Eastern carrier. “In June 2013, we joined the oneworld [alliance]. We were invited by American Airlines and [UK-based] British Airways together. Unfortunately, the same airline that invited us is now talking against Qatar Airways,” Al Baker said. Al Baker added there are a lot of bad feelings with the three US airlines, despite Qatar’s agreement not to exercise fifth freedom flights into the US. Al Baker said that while one of the principal purposes of an alliance is for members to feed passengers to each other, Qatar is now getting more passengers from non-oneworld airlines.<br/>