Qatar Airways partners with IndiGo to tap into India’s aviation market

Qatar Airways has been looking to expand in India, but plans to start a new carrier have been scrambled by rules on foreign ownership.

Representational image | An IndiGo Airlines aircraft | Wikipedia Commons

Kuwait/Dubai: Qatar Airways plans a strategic partnership with IndiGo, a move that will funnel more traffic from the fast-growing Indian air-travel market to the Gulf carrier’s network.

“It is not something about buying a stake, it’s commercial,” Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said in an interview in Kuwait on Tuesday, referring to an announcement planned for Nov. 7.

Qatar Airways has been looking to expand in the fast-growing Indian market, yet plans to start a new carrier there have been frustrated over rules surrounding foreign ownership. Instead, the airline has asked local authorities to temporarily allow it to add more seats on high-volume routes to fill the gap left by Jet Airways, a partner of rival Etihad Airways, which went bust in April.

Indigo has emerged as the biggest Indian airline following the collapse of Jet Airways. Last week, the carrier ordered 300 narrow-body jets from Airbus SE — one of the European plane maker’s biggest ever deals.

Qatar Airways could break even within the next two years, the CEO said, even after full-year losses increased by near ten-fold on higher fuel costs and a weaker regional economy. The carrier as also been affected by a tough operating environment caused by Saudi-led airspace closures.

“We are now back to our pre-blockade growth and we hope that we will come to profitability soon,” Al Baker said.- Bloomberg