Washington, Atlanta: Qatar Airways will commit to greater financial transparency and not run any indirect flights to the US through other countries as part of an agreement with the Trump administration addressing US carriers’ accusations that their Gulf competitors get unfair government help.
Airlines have estimated that Qatar gave $17 billion (Dh62.4 billion) or more to Qatar Airways over a 10-year period.
Senior State Department officials said that within a year, Qatar Airways will adopt internationally recognised accounting standards, and issue annual reports and audited results, to the extent they’re not already doing so. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will announce the arrangement on January 30, following weeks of negotiation among the State Department, White House and Qatar.
Qatar’s move on open skies may reflect an effort to curry favour with the Trump administration in the dispute with its Gulf neighbours, which has been ongoing for eight months.
No ‘Fifth Freedom’
Within two years, the airline will disclose any major financial transactions with state enterprises to ensure those are being done on commercial terms, said the officials, who declined to be identified ahead of the official announcement.
Qatar Airways also informed the US that it has no intention, for now, of conducting “Fifth Freedom” flights to the US.
Under commercial aviation protocols, those flights are ones which start in an airline’s home country and touch down in a different nation before continuing on to a third country — in this case, the US.
Tillerson will announce the voluntary agreement when he meets his Qatari counterpart during a US-Qatar Strategic Dialogue, said a senior State Department official who asked not to be identified discussing a deal that hasn’t been publicly announced.
