Qatar Airways keen to launch domestic airline in Kingdom

Qatar Airways has expressed interest in launching an airline registered in Saudi Arabia.
According to an official statement issued yesterday, Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al-Baker held talks with General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) President Prince Fahd bin Abdullah Al-Saud and discussed opportunities arising from the Kingdom’s newly-launched aviation liberalization policy.
“With a market that is underserved and keen for greater domestic air services, the Kingdom represents a key growth area,” said Al-Baker.
However, he expressed reservations on excessive fuel charges in the Kingdom and the government’s policy of controlling domestic airfares.
According to him, capping airfares will make it difficult for airlines to operate commercially.
Qatar Airways has seen rapid growth in just 15 years of operation, currently operating a modern fleet of 109 aircraft to 117 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America from its Doha hub.
Since the beginning of the year, Qatar Airways has launched flights to Baku (Azerbaijan); Tbilisi (Georgia); Kigali (Rwanda); Zagreb (Croatia), Erbil (Iraq), Baghdad (Iraq) and Perth (Australia), with many more new destinations planned during 2012.