Qatar Airways in talks to buy 49% of Rwanda’s national carrier

Qatar Airways is in talks to buy a 49% stake in Rwanda’s national carrier as the Gulf airline looks to grow its presence in one of the world’s fast-growing aviation markets. Qatar Airways CE Akbar Al Baker Wednesday said he was negotiating to buy a stake in the state-owned airline, pointing to Africa as a region with big growth potential. It comes just weeks after the Doha-based carrier agreed a deal to buy a 60% stake in Rwanda’s new Bugesera International Airport, located in the capital Kigali, which Al Baker said would have capacity for 10m passengers. “In Africa, there is a big demand for air travel which today is very poorly connected, so we always look at opportunities in our field to do investments similar to what we have done in the past,” said Al Baker. He added that the attraction of Kigali was its “location, the stability of the country and the very favourable business environment that exists in that country”. Al Baker said the airline would take “our time to negotiate” the deal with RwandAir. He also noted that Qatar Airways was still interested in buying a stake in India’s IndiGo, but said it was waiting for the right “atmosphere” for it to do a deal.<br/>