Dubai: Qatar Airways will continue to operate the routes that it started after the blockade with Saudi Arabia and rest of the Gulf States, said Akbar Al Baker, the airline’s CEO during a virtual event on Wednesday.
“We will continue because that is our growth strategy - we are not going to walk away from routes that we were already operating,” said Al Baker, during a virtual interview organized by CAPA.
“Qatar Airways will serve all the routes that we had launched after the blockade and before the COVID restrictions happened,” he added.
Qatar’s flagship carrier has increased its network to include 110 destinations, compared to just 33 at the beginning of the pandemic in March. It has plans to serve 129 destinations by March.
No Brexit impact
Al Baker said that UK’s split from Europe will not impact Qatar Airways’ investment in International Airlines Group (IAG) – the parent company of British Airways.
“No, I think this has not affected our ownership of it,” said Al Baker, in reference to Qatar Airways’ 25 per cent stake in the company.
Business travel will return
“There will not be too much business traffic, but this is only for the time being - I am certain the business traffic will start growing once the pandemic is brought under control,” said Al Baker.
