 "Qatar Airways")
Qatar Airways chief executive officer Akbar Al Baker said today the airline is treated unfairly by the Indian government on matter of bilateral seat allocation and added that it remains interested in investing in IndiGo.
Qatar Airways is also willing to send its planes to India for maintenance and overhaul if MRO facilities are developed in the country, Al Baker said today at Hyderabad.
Qatar Airways which is the smallest of the big three Gulf airlines (others being Emirates and Etihad) is displaying its Airbus A350 aircraft at the Indian Aviation 2016 show in India.
"We did show interest in IndiGo. Unfortunately because of rules governing IPO in India we could not invest directly. If we had to we would have to do this through our parent company which is sovereign fund. To do that we needed more time and the time was short," he said.
Baker however added that the airline is open to investing in IndiGo. "Yes, if there is an opportunity. I cannot force the owners to sell. If they are willing to sell, then we are interested," he said.
Qatar is unfairly treated by Indian authorities, "despite the fact that Qatar is the largest supplier of natural gas and fertiliser to India, he said.
Qatar Government raised unfair treatment issue (with the Indian Government) many times, Al Baker said adding, " there is never a balance in air traffic rights".
"This is a false pretext. You will never have a balance in usage of traffic rights," he said. While Qatar Airways fully utilises its side of traffic rights Indian carriers utilise only half of 24,000 seats.
Expressing his opposition to the government's proposal to auction additional bilaterals, he said that the plan is 'ill-conceived'.
