The CEO of Doha-based Qatar Airways, Badr Al Meer, has revealed that the carrier is within 鈥渢wo or three weeks鈥� of finalizing a major equity investment in an airline 鈥渋n the southern part of Africa鈥�. Al Meer, who became CEO of the carrier in November 2023, said the southern part of Africa was a gap in Qatar Airways鈥� network coverage on the continent that the company was aiming to fill.聽聽
Southern Africa is being seen as the 鈥渓ast piece of the equation鈥� to gain greater scale on the continent that精东影业 seen rising travel demand in recent years, Al-Meer said.聽聽
Speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha on May 15, 2024, Al Meer revealed that the carrier was keen to expand its operations on the African continent and that the investment would help it achieve this ambition. Al Meer noted that Africa has 鈥渟o many opportunities鈥� that Qatar could potentially tap into, noting the airline already flies to more than 30 destinations within the continent. He added that Qatar Airways wants to help expand the operations of its partner airlines in Africa to improve connectivity.聽
Although not expressly mentioning any specific African airline by name, the comments were made during a panel discussion entitled 鈥楥onnecting the Middle East & Africa鈥�, which also happened to involve the CEO of RwandAir, Yvonne Manzi Makolo (recently interviewed by 精东影业).聽
Qatar Airways has been developing closer ties with Rwanda as a nation in recent years. In 209, the carrier took a 60% stake in a new $1.3 billion international airport being built in Rwanda, currently due to open in 2027/28. Then in 2021, the airline entered into a codeshare agreement with national carrier Rwandair, operating around 156 direct flights between Doha and Kigali between them between 2022 and 2023.聽聽
Additionally, in May 2023, Qatar Airways Cargo launched a hub at Kigali International Airport (KGL) in partnership with RwandAir, for its cargo handling.鈥疶he move was aimed at expanding the carrier精东影业 African air cargo network and meeting the 3% to 5% of its annual economic growth forecast for the continent within a decade.聽
Adding to the speculation as to the identity of the airline concerned, Al Meer appeared to throw more light on how Rwandair might help Qatar Airways achieve its goals in Africa.聽聽聽
鈥淲e are at the final stage of an equity investment in an airline in the southern part of Africa. This airline will help us and complement the operation of Kigali,鈥� he added. 鈥淲hen it comes to central Africa, we couldn鈥檛 find any better partner or any better location to create or to build a hub for us and our partners other than Kigali and this is where we started working with RwandAir.鈥澛�
While Qatar Airways has grown from relatively humble beginnings to a huge international airline operating 265 aircraft, Rwandair is a far smaller entity. The carrier operates just 14 aircraft with a pair of Airbus A330-200s serving international routes.聽
