The boss of Qatar Airways has confirmed the airline will be closing a deal in the ‘next couple of day’s to buy a stake in Italian carrier Meridiana.
Chief executive Akbar Al Baker made the announcement at a press conference at the Arabian Travel Market convention in Dubai.
Qatar Airways has been negotiating to buy a 49% stake in the Italian airline for over a year.
Based in Olbia, Meridiana operates from Milan, Naples, Rome and Verona.
Meanwhile, Qatar Airways said it plans to start direct flights to San Francisco early next year as part of its US growth strategy.
It comes as rival Emirates announced plans to cut flights on five US routes from May due to a ‘significant deterioration’ in demand after US President Donald Trump’s attempts to impose a travel ban from some Muslim countries.
Al Baker told reporters that although the airline has seen some decline on certain US routes, the fall-out was manageable.
Plans to launch Las Vegas flights have been postponed from early 2018 until the second quarter ‘mainly due to technical reasons’.
Middle East airlines which are looking to start US routes have met with resistance from major US carriers who accuse them of unfairly receiving billions of dollars in state aid.
