Qatar Airways chief Akbar Al Baker has lashed critics of Middle Eastern carriers' use of export finance, and their desire for expansion.
In comments voiced during the Arab Air Carriers Organization conference in Cairo, Al Baker noted that the region's airlines were being "heavily criticised" for using cheaper finance to expand. But he retorts that carrier chiefs behind such attacks "do not understand the basic principles" of financing to airlines.
The difference between normal market financing and the "cheaper money" is "very little", asserts Al Baker, who also rejects suggestions that the Arab carriers benefit - at least unfairly - from tax breaks and lower staffing costs.
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European carriers are using their aircraft typically for eight or nine hours a day while Middle Eastern operators are using theirs for 13-14h, he says. With Europe "hesitant" to expand its airports, Arab carriers "need to expand to compensate".
Al Baker also condemns the "propaganda" issued against Middle Eastern airlines concerning the environment, adding that the "biggest noise" against the region's operators is being made by a major carrier - which he did not identify publicly - and that this airline has higher emission levels than Qatar Airways.
Attributing the latest criticism of Middle Eastern operators to the problems faced by airlines during the recent recession, Al Baker comments: "If you can't defeat someone, you should join them. Competition will not go away by screaming and shouting."
AACO secretary general Abdul Wahab Teffaha, during his keynote address, said "calls for restraint" by "mature airlines" amounted to complaints that a competitive hub-and-spoke model they created was no longer competitive.
"Arab airlines have adopted this model, and improved it," he says.
Source: Flight International
