The least we can say is that Qatar Airways does not seem to be an easy airline to live with. It may be so for its customers, but obviously not for its airline partners.
Qatar a regionally isolated airline
Many people are a little hasty in lumping the 3 “Gulf Sisters” (namely Emirates, Etihad and Qatar) together. This is a mistake. Emirates and Etihad are airlines from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar Airways is an airline from Qatar.
In 2017 and due to the alleged troubled relations between Qatar and some terrorist organizations, a number of countries including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Maldives, Mauritania, Senegal, Djibouti, Comoros, Libya and Yemen decided to harden their relations with the emirate.
This hardening of relations includes the closure of their airspace to Qatari aircraft. Their respective airlines have of course interrupted the routes to Doha.
Look at the map of the region and you will understand the extent of the problem.
All Qatar Airways flights to Europe or Africa must therefore now pass through Iranian airspace. Not only is this uncomfortable for passengers who see their travel time increase, but one can imagine the impact on fuel costs.
Imagine Air France having to go through Spain to serve Northern and Eastern Europe and Asia and you will understand the extent of the problem.
In any case, to date there is nothing to suggest that the situation will improve in the short term.
Qatar at war in its own airline alliance
There is a golden rule in the airline industry: when you cannot operate a route in a technically or economically profitable way, you do it with your partners. And Qatar Airways is part of the OneWorld alliance with, among others, the IAG group (British Airways, Iberia), American Airlines, Qantas, Cathay Pacific and many others.
But the relationship between the Gulf airline and its partners is far from being in good shape.
Relations with American Airlines (and American airlines in general) have historically been strained by a dispute over possible illegal subsidies received by the airline from the government. Tense to the point that now allows a withdrawal of Qatar from the alliance.
To make matters worse, Qatar Airways has taken substantial stakes in the IAG group, (British Airways and Iberia) Cathay Pacific and LATAM.
An unlikely Qexit?
For some, these investments are proof, if not a guarantee, that Qatar will not leave OneWorld because the operation would be so complicated. We can also take the problem in the other direction and say that at a time when it seems that financial and opportunistic partnerships tend to develop to the detriment of major alliances, Qatar could make OneWorld explode by creating its pool of partners. Or leave it alone by maintaining privileged agreements with the airlines in which it has invested.
So yes, relative isolation when you have 15% of IAG… But the IAG of a “no deal brexit”? A European IAG? An IAG in the context of a brexit with agreement? Not the same situation at all.
The risk of a Qexit is reminiscent of a well-known situation in Europe today.
Gulf Sisters are not immortal
Some would say that Qatar does not risk anything. The country has money and will be able to support its airline until the situation becomes peaceful. Except that there is a difference between buying soccer players at a high price and supporting the always fragile economy of an airline.
The state of Etihad, which had more or less the same assets, should make us think about Doha. As well as the possibility of market consolidation in the Emirates with the formation of a powerful competitor.
Qatar 2022 in the background
It would be wrong to forget that all this is taking place in the context of the next soccer World Cup, which will see tons of fans flocking to Doha (even if it seems certain that we will be far from the excitement that we could have had in a European, South American or even Asian country).
If the airline continues to be isolated both regionally and industrially, if Doha becomes more difficult to reach, the economics of the event are at stake.
Photo : Qatar Airways by Fasttailwind via Shutterstock
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