Qatar Airways set to fly into Indian market with new domestic airline

If everything goes according to plan, Qatar Airways could soon operate a domestic airline in India with a 100-strong fleet of narrowbody planes, it has been revealed.

With India opening up the airline sector to foreign investors, Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said he was keen to set up a full service Indian carrier to fly domestic routes, reported The Peninsula.

Qatar Airways has recently been buying stakes in other airlines, the most recently being Italian carrier Meridiana.

Al Baker said India was next on Qatar’s list. Last June, the Indian government had allowed Indian carriers to be fully owned by foreign entities.

On January 24, a report had emerged that India’s civil aviation ministry had asked the Qatar government to start an airline in the country and participate in the nation’s growth story.

“Yes, we’ll have a 100% owned domestic carrier in India that’ll belong to both Qatar Airways and our state investment arm as India has now allowed foreign investment in domestic carriers within India. We’ll soon be making an application to that effect,” Qatar Tribune quoted Al Baker as saying.

Under current rules, foreign airlines are still restricted to holding a maximum stake of 49% in Indian carriers, but other foreign investors may own up to 100%.

Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund QIA could own the carrier, and Qatar Airways would then take a stake, Al Baker said.

“We work in partnership. They may use us to run the airline,” he said.

Qatar Airways has previously talked of investing in Indigo, but missed out on taking a stake in its IPO.

Al Baker revealed that taking a stake in an existing carrier was off the table now, but that Qatar Airways was talking to two Indian carriers to code share with them.

Meanwhile, the Indian aviation ministry has welcomed the move.

“I didn’t expect this (so soon). We’ll await the application and will process it as per government policy,” aviation secretary Rajiv Nayan Choubey was quoted as saying by Live Mint.

India’s domestic aviation market reached nearly 100m passengers in 2016 and is set to displace the UK as the third-largest aviation market by 2026.