Airlines
Qatar Airways Holds Out against Boycott
Airline aims to restore pre-blockade traffic volumes by end of year
Akbar Al Baker (center, with child) leads a show of support for Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, by Qatar Airways on July 13. (Photo: Qatar Airways)
Akbar Al Baker (center, with child) leads a show of support for Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, by Qatar Airways on July 13. (Photo: Qatar Airways)

Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker struck a defiant tone in his commentary at Boeing’s delivery center in Seattle just before a September 25 ceremony to celebrate delivery of his airline’s first Boeing 747-8F freighter, calling the boycott of Qatar by its Arabian Gulf neighbors an “illegal act” that nevertheless has served to boost the carrier’s cargo business. Sitting with Boeing vice chairman Ray Conner and Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Kevin McAllister, Al Baker did acknowledge that the move by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt to sever diplomatic relations and impose travel bans in June has cut Qatar Airways’s passenger traffic volumes by 10 percent. However, he expressed confidence that aggressive expansion outside those four countries would restore the airline’s traffic volumes to pre-boycott levels by the end of the year.