Fast-growing Qatar Airways is interested in joining one of the world's three big frequent-flier groups, but only if it is a "win-win situation" for everyone involved, the airline's CEO said today at a media luncheon in Washington, D.C.
Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker called the prospect of joining an alliance "a double-edged sword. An alliance could be beneficial to us, but it also could be detrimental to our progress."
Qatar Airways remains one of the few significant international carriers that has yet to join a frequent-flier alliance, something that would seem to make it an attractive target.
Though Qatar Airways already has agreements with many individual members of the Star Alliance, it is not a member of the group – the world's largest. Star Alliance members include U.S. airlines United and US Airways, which each have passenger-sharing "codeshare" pacts with Qatar Airways.
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"We would like to be part of an alliance, but at the same time we would like to protect our interests," Al Baker said, adding that he had concerns that the biggest members of such alliances often dictate favorable terms that come at the expense of smaller partners.
"We will not join the Star Alliance to serve the interest of another carrier," he said.
Pressed on whether that meant Qatar Airway would not soon be seeking alliance membership, Al Baker suggested that maybe it should work the other way around.
"Knowing that we are a large carrier, Star should invite us to join them," he said. "If they have interest in us and they invite us, then we shall see the pros and cons and then we will decide."
Does Al Baker think Star might be interested in Qatar Airways, which has nearly 150 new jets on order?
"Well, (many of the Star members) are codesharing with us very widely, so I am sure there must be some kind of interest," he said.
Al Baker added that one of the other two frequent-flier alliances – oneworld and SkyTeam – had already contacted Qatar Airways. He would not identify which one, but said officials from that alliance "put out feelers as to see if we were interested."
The U.S. anchor of the oneworld alliance is American Airlines, while the key U.S. member of SkyTeam is Delta. Continental recently made waves in the airline industry when it announced plans to dump its current alliance -- SkyTeam -- and switch to Star as part of a new pact with United.
However, neither oneworld nor SkyTeam appear be Qatar Airways' immediate future.
Al Baker said if Qatar Airways were to join an alliance, he would be most interested in Star – though he again cautioned the benefits of joining such a group must outweigh any risks.
"To me, if I join an alliance, it will have to be a win-win situation – not a one-sided (pact). I don’t want to just display a Star Alliance sign on my airplane and then remove my shirt," he said.
Photo: Courtesy of Qatar Airways.
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