Qatar Airways to announce African airline deal in “weeks”

Al-Meer, the new head of Qatar Airways, revealed his group was in the advanced stages of the deal with an as-yet unnamed airline at the Doha Economic Forum in mid-May.

“I asked our legal people that question four or five days ago if we are able to announce at the Farnborough Air Show as promised a few months back, but they told me they are at the final stages of signing all documents,” he explained.

“If the air show was in two or three weeks, we would have been able to do it,” said Al-Meer.

No details are available yet on the identity of the carrier or the size of the investment, however, industry speculation has inevitably turned to South African carriers with Airlink, and flag carrier South African Airways mentioned.

Speaking about the carrier’s motivation for the deal, Al-Meer said: “As you know, Qatar Airways has a very big network in Africa where we serve more than 30 destinations. We see the growth in the eastern and western parts of Africa.

“In the northern parts of Africa, we have a very successful collaboration with Royal Air Maroc. The only missing area we want to invest in is central Africa and the south part of Africa,” he said.

“In central Africa we have been in discussion and negotiations for a very long time with the government of Rwanda. We are establishing a partnership with RwandAir, plus we are building a new hub for Rwanda. We will own equity in both the airline and the airport.

“So, the central part of Africa is now taken care of by our investment partnership with Rwanda. The last missing part of the equation is the south part of Africa. And this is where this airline [comes in]…as the southern part of Africa is important for us to create this network and cover every city in the country,” he said.