Qatar Airways' Al Baker believes 'ownership and control requirements will just fade away' in future

Qatar Airways CEO and incoming IATA chairman Akbar Al Baker, speaking at a media briefing at the IATA AGM and World Air Transport Summit, stated (05-Jun-2018) he believes "ownership and control requirements will just fade away" in the future. He noted that nations need to have an airline for connectivity and economic reasons, but in many cases, governments are not longer able to sustain a government owned airline, which means the current ownership rules "will have to be abolished". He noted Qatar Airways' relationships with IAG and LATAM, noting that Qatar Airways was "able to help them with capacity when they have had issues with aircraft manufacturers and the same vice versa", adding that this "can only happen when there is cross ownership of airlines".