Qatar blames open skies for Gatwick withdrawal

Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker attributed his decision to pull out of London Gatwick to the EU-US open skies agreement (Business Traveller, 14-Mar-2011). Mr Al Baker said following the agreement "all the American carriers moved to Heathrow", taking the airline's North Atlantic feed from its Gatwick operations. Without international feeder traffic "the domestic traffic wasn't enough, and what there was, could easily be carried over Heathrow", the CEO said. Qatar Airways will double service to Manchester to twice daily after dropping the Gatwick service and Mr Al Baker said the airline "will soon be looking at other UK airports".