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Hoffmann takes off: Qatar Airways Group CEO Akbar Al Baker

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A visit with the boss: Qatar Airways Group CEO Akbar Al Baker is considered one of the most polarizing airline bosses in the world. Every aircraft manufacturer fears his strictness, and Al Baker is also an eternal advocate of sustainable, perfect service. Connoisseur Circle met Al Baker in his office in Doha.

You are planning to leave the Oneworld alliance, of which British Airways or Qantas from Australia are members. Why?

I still don't have the feeling that it is advantageous for us to be in an alliance. Especially when some partners are lobbying the US government against us. And this comes from a big member of Oneworld who is responsible for attacks against Qatar Airways. The alliance is all about lounges and frequent flyer miles. But we don't need to be in an alliance for that. The fashion alliance is failing. At the beginning I thought that every airline would belong to an alliance at some point in the future. But my statement was misplaced. I am convinced that alliances are old fashioned, airlines should work on neutral agreements, agree mileage credits with bilateral contracts and, as an airline, feel free to cooperate with anyone regardless of which alliance they belong to. Qatar Airways has strategic stakes in four airlines. If we have opportunities to increase the stakes, we will do so. We are also looking at other airlines to invest in.

On a political topic: For almost two years now, Qatar Airways has had to fly around the Arabian Peninsula, especially on the African routes and to South America. What if the blockade was ended tomorrow?

First let this blockade be lifted, then we will decide how to operate further. On average, each of our more than 300 daily flights has 20 minutes extra flight time. Per route! This also makes it impossible to be profitable and we have issued a profit warning to our owner. It is not easy to expand the route network, add new destinations, fleet aircraft and then make a profit under such stress. How is that supposed to work? This is a long-term investment.

Qatar Airways has had to give up important routes such as to Saudi Arabia, Dubai or Cairo as a result of this blockade and is now building up a replacement network. How big is Qatar Airways supposed to be one day?

In 1997, when I became CEO, my limit was 35 destinations. Today we have over 170 destinations, and with our cargo business it's over 200. My current plan is to serve 250 destinations from Doha, and we should reach that in the next three and a half years. We have around 300 aircraft in the pipeline, at an official catalog price of more than 90 billion US dollars. But most of these aircraft are replacements.
Our plan is to have an average fleet age of five years.
It's not just about being the youngest in the fleet, we also want to ensure that we grow carbon-neutral. So if we continue to grow, our carbon footprint should be the same or even reduced by simply having the most modern aircraft.

How is the open-sky agreement between the EU and Qatar developing and are you planning more destinations in Germany or Austria?

It still has to be ratified. This means that we could then directly increase frequencies to Europe over five years. All these markets are important for Qatar Airways, but also for other airlines. There is a high volume there and high yields can be achieved. Many airlines are therefore interested in flying to these markets.

You have announced that you will be retiring the world's largest commercial aircraft, the Airbus A380, after ten years in service. Why is that?

I don't think there will be a market for this aircraft then and it simply won't be possible to sustainably achieve the operating costs that we will still be able to afford this aircraft after ten years from 2024. If you have a full load factor, flying point to point, then it's a very good aircraft. But we have a hub in Doha. And the different passenger yields distributed across the aircraft (transfer passengers achieve lower through fares, please note) do not make it easy to operate an A380 profitably. More than 80 percent of our passengers are transfer passengers. When we purchased the A380, the oil price was 30 to 40 US dollars per barrel, so it was a good plane.
But not today. Airbus made the big mistake of developing a wing for the current standard A380 version and an extended version, but the latter was never built. This makes the aircraft too heavy. If the wing had been adapted to the current versions, it would require 2o percent less fuel.

The challenges for 2019? Qatar Airways is an important instrument for its country...

People should stand up to those airlines that only want to protect themselves, but where passengers have to pay more than what they get in return. And these airlines will not change. And if they do, their passengers will never get the exceptional, sustainable service that we are so proud of at Qatar Airways! Here we are disciplined, very focused, we live a hospitality no matter who you are, no matter where you come from. The challenges for Qatar Airways are the geopolitical situation in our region, the blockade and of course the uncertainty of the development of the global economy. And: every airline is an important instrument for its country. The same applies to the USA, Germany and Qatar.

(c) Qatar Airways