The Hindu Business Line : ‘Every downturn has its bright spots, and we see India as one’

Compared to the effects of the economic downturn everywhere else in the world, India has not been badly affected. It also has a growing middle-class. There is a huge opportunity here.

AKBAR AL BAKER, CEO, QATAR AIRWAYS

Shubhra Tandon

Even as the economic downturn slowed down airlines’ expansion across the world, Qatar Airways has managed to buck the trend. Its CEO, Mr Akbar Al Baker, believes: “In every economic slowdown, there are still millionaires to be made”. Recently, Qatar Airways became the world’s first airline to use natural gas on a commercial passenger flight from London Gatwick to Doha. Mr Baker spoke to Business Line on the experience of using the new fuel technology and Qatar Airways’ plans for India, on the occasion of its launching operations from Goa, becoming the first full-service international airline to flyi to the land of beaches.

Excerpts from the interview:

What are the opportunities that Qatar Airways sees in India?

A lot of people look at India as a place that has huge volumes of traffic with a huge population. But they don’t realise something — that India has a middle-class population as big as the entire population of the United States.

It also has a growing middle-class. There is a huge opportunity here. India is an economic superpower in the making. And people like us, Qatar Airways, want to be part and parcel of this growth in India. This is especially because Qatar has such close economic and political relations with India that it does not enjoy with many other countries, except, of course, within the GCC.

What are the challenges you see here in the current time of economic slowdown?

Well, we feel that in every economic slowdown there are still millionaires to be made! Every economic downturn has certain bright spots and we see India as a bright spot. Compared to the effects of the economic downturn everywhere else in the world, India has not been badly affected, because the whole dynamics of the Indian economy is different from other countries.

People in India do not leverage themselves against the huge debts that Western communities or populations exposed themselves to.

Other countries are dependent on their Governments to fund economic development. India does not depend on the Government, it’s the other way around here.

Coming to the issue of employment, how many people were employed as a result of operating to Amritsar and Goa?

We have recruited 18 or 19 more people just now. And this will grow. Also, don’t forget that, as we grow as an airline, we are also recruiting Indians in our hub.

What percentage would this be?

Sixty percent of the employees in Qatar Airways are from India. Not only in the airline, but in ground-handling, in catering…we have many other services that we provide, in airport operations, engineering, etc.

A while ago you had threatened to cancel orders from Boeing. Is that likely to impact India expansions?

We had an issue with the manufacturer. You know that Boeing’s 787 programme is delayed and we had certain conditions, which we wanted them to address. They were not addressed, so I said we may cancel. But if we cancel Boeing, we will place an order with Airbus for a similar number of aeroplanes. Our plan will not be affected by Boeing or Airbus. We have our own strategy, our goals that we want to achieve.

So are the orders being cancelled?

Well they have obliged and agreed to our requirements, so now we will continue (with Boeing). Our first deliveries of the 787 will be in 2011.

Yours was the first airline to use the Gas to Liquid Technology (GTL) on a commercial flight. How was the experience?

I was on that aircraft. Because it was a new fuel, we informed the passengers that they were on a flight with a new fuel derivative. The experience was like any normal flight. The only thing was that the aircraft burnt nearly seven tonnes less fuel on that route than it would have burnt had it been on standard fuel.

What wear and tear would the engine suffer with this fuel?

None. It is exactly like the normal fuel, except that it has emission properties that are better than the normal aviation fuel.

What sort of training will the staff need to undergo?

Nothing. And the good thing about this fuel is that you could fill the GTL fuel in the tanks and, when there is residual GTL fuel in the tank, if you go to a station where it is not available, you can pour the normal fuel into the tank and it mixes. So, there is no need to empty the tank.

What about the cost of running the aircraft?

Well, the cost of running the aircraft is the same but the cost of fuel is slightly higher.

So it would impact the overall cost of the airline?

No. Don’t forget that the increase in cost is compensated by the lower fuel consumption.

So, are you likely to pass on the benefits of using this fuel to the customers? As you mentioned, the efficiency of the fuel is much higher.

There will be no benefit. Because the prices will increase, so one compensates the other.

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