Weeks before Qatar Airways launches its first direct flight to Amsterdam, the national carrier’s CEO has warned Dutch companies that they may find themselves shut out of commercial opportunities here unless the airline is allowed to expand its service to the Netherlands.
Speaking at a press conference in the Dutch capital today, Akbar Al Baker told reporters that he’d like to add more passenger and cargo flights to Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on top of the six weekly flights that are scheduled to commence June 16.
“We wouldn’t mind to come here double-daily,” Al Baker said.
The official’s remarks come after Dutch newspaper Financieele Dagblad reported this week that the Netherlands government has frozen the number of flights that Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad can operate to Schiphol.
The move is reportedly in response to ongoing allegations that the Gulf carriers receive unfair government subsidies that allow them to undercut their European and American rivals.
Al Baker did not address that freeze directly, but warned there would be economic consequences if the Netherlands moved to restrict Qatar Airways’ access to Schiphol:
“Netherlands, for centuries, has been a trading country … (But) I believe it is now your government policy not to give any additional (flight) frequencies,” he said. “If you don’t allow us to benefit in a small way by bringing additional flights to Netherlands, then you should also not expect a lot of commercial contracts from our government. It’s as simple as that.”
Like many countries, the Netherlands is hoping that its companies can profit from Qatar’s massive infrastructure building boom.
In a November 2013 speech at Qatar University, Henk Kamp – the Netherlands’ minister of economic affairs – spoke about how Dutch companies can help Qatar prepare for the 2022 World Cup:
“The Netherlands is a world leader in energy efficient construction, and we can put this knowledge to good use in major construction projects in Qatar.”
Philippines push
Separately, Qatar Airways is holding talks this week with aviation regulators in the Philippines.
According to local media, the carrier is aiming to add 13 more weekly flights between Doha’s Hamad International Airport and Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
The Manila Standard Daily reports:
“Once granted, the request would boost the services of the Qatari airline to 21 Doha-Manila flights a week, the highest frequency of flights offered by any Middle Eastern airline to the Philippine capital.”
It continued:
“Qatar Airways also flies seven times a week from Doha to Clark International Airport, a service inaugurated in 2013 after the Qatari airline reduced its Doha-Naia flights from 14 to 8 times per week in November 2013 to comply with limits set by the Philippines-Qatar air pact currently in effect.”
Competition on the Doha-Manila route will heat up for Qatar Airways this summer when budget carrier Cebu Pacific Air begins flying between the capitals on June 4.
According to the airline – the largest in the Philippines – the goal is to serve over 260,000 Filipinos in Qatar, which is home to the third-largest Filipino community in the Middle East.
Thoughts?
![[Getty]](https://dohanews.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1763609272-560x420.jpg)
Mr.Al Baker, the perfect man in the perfect position. You’re a great asset to Qatar and Qatar Airways, hopefully you will stay longer in your position.
I prey that you grasp sarcasm and you are demonstrating a mastered use of it in your prose.
Unfortunately for you I am not. Don’t hate him cause you ain’t him. Invest your time in fixing your national carrier’s problems instead of bashing the rest, unless QA is your problem.
Well, guess we will have to agree to disagree about what makes a person ‘the perfect man in the perfect position.’ As an aside, I am a QA stakeholder and I do offer suggestions to QA on a regular basis.
Bet your, or anyone else’s, suggestions go real far with him.
Similar to how you blindly rally against anything perceived to be anti-Qatar, don’t believe yourself to be anymore rational and sensible minded than him…
Deleting for personal attack.
This is getting like trying to watch a french movie on Qatar Airways. So who had an affair with who and why is this movie only 35 minutes long?
Hmm, I missed seeing the personal attack posts. Hope they were good ones 😉
So do I, but they get completely ignored. Not even acknowledged!
He is the perfect man if his role is to look like an a^& and be the worst possible face of Qatar Airways. Every word out of his mouth plays right into hands of his competitors. When they start playing his public statements at inquiries in other countries it will so work against the interests of QA.
I think I might start to create a list of his quotes for fun!
Ooh, that’s a great idea, a listicle or some such thing. Instead orf Bushisms we can laugh at Al-Bakerisms.
I don’t consider him the perfect man, nor do I view him as a particularly great asset, that being said, I agree with him that it’s only right that they do not benefit commercially from Qatar’s growth if they attempt to impede our growth.
“Our growth”? Are you Qatari?
Yep.
Agreed 100%, I don’t think that Qatar should benefit from impeding our growth, which is why I support limitations on Qatar Airways. Foreigners like the Qataris shouldn’t benefit off of the back of us.
Good luck with that.
Exactly, that’s the nature of the system. You don’t like the Dutch getting benefits of Qatar’s growth and I don’t like the Qataris getting getting unearned benefit from us, but both will, because that is the way the system functions.
Perhaps, but it is a bit far that a company can vocally demonstrate threats in the name of Qatar…especially threats over various sectors of the economy not just airlines. No company should be able to speak for a government. One should never become too arrogant; it has never won anything.
Also, it’s kind of an exaggeration that just cause they want to limit our airlines we need to lash out at a whole nation’s economy. I believe Qatar is a more mature nation than that and the limiting of our flights in certain nations isn’t going to do much to our growth or economy. They never said they wanted to remove the airline completely just limit flights and offer a more balanced playing field.
We find ourselves in 100% agreement.
You got the first 3 letters right in what you called him.
Yes PR at its very finest
What an absolute belter.
I would love to see what his tantrums are like when he doesn’t get his own way.
all his toys come flying out of the pram…..
Desperate little man. Good luck doing business with the west.
How is he desperate? They are the ones more desperate for Qatar’s cake than the other way around…
We’ll see. The US government is about to put the hurt on his airline and now this? Making threats seems like a last ditch effort. Time will tell.
Yeah, right after they pull WC 2022 from Qatar…
Australia would be my preference. Nice wine and better beaches.
I would prefer if they scrapped the whole event entirely and replaced it with something more interesting like people fighting lions or each other to the death.
And you don’t need someone’s permission to leave, of course. So all to the good.
Quite hard for some people to get in though!
There is a very powerful and extremely rare phenomenon working against him called bipartisan support in Congress. The American airline industry is way more powerful than him. Like I said, time will tell, but my money is on restrictions.
Same or worse.
Well, given the gentlemen we have seen in handcuffs today, that is looking more and more like a realistic possibility everyday.
Which gentleman are you referring to?
Good point, my bad. It is clear that they aren’t in any way gentlemen.
Yes, let’s wait and see. Interesting developments in the news just now. Arrested for corruption? No way, gedoutofhere!!!
The trials will be interesting, I do need to stock up on my popcorn supply. I would imagine that there are a goodly number of people worldwide very worried about what revelations the trials will bring.
Who said I was against arrests for corrupt practices? It seems most on here don’t care about ethics and morals as much as finding any opportunity to criticize Qatar/Qataris.
I for one genuinely want justice and support any actions that promote fairness for all, regardless of the parties involved.
Indeed, today is a wonderful day for soccer, FIFA and Qatar. The truth will eventually come out, the corrupt and unethical everywhere can start to be punished, and the game and system will be much better off. There is a lot of pain to come for individuals and organizations, but it is all for the good.
It’s pretty easy to criticize when that guy is the face of your nation. He gets more face time on the media than any other Qatari. When we see him on CNN telling bold faced lies (cabin crew rules) to Richard Quest and making threats, we draw our conclusions on Qatar. He is a strange man and he represents you whether you like it or not.
Will the US go against it’s principles of free market? Wait .. do they have even have principles? Never mind.
One of the core principles of a free market is a level playing field. It’s like football. If you want to play a global game you got to play by global rules.
Yes, play by the rules. But be free to ‘win’ a contest under various rules, and then to change those rules because it suits. Corruption, anyone???
which is what makes the game so fun
Mr. Al-Baker, We understand that you are trying to get your routes locked down before the American/Canadian/European hammer falls on your company. Just a reminder, you are merely a company, we are a country. Act with appropriate deference when you come as a supplicant asking for something from us – you are not speaking to us as equals and don’t forget it. Equally, does your government know that you are speaking in their name? Perhaps we’ll summon the Qatari ambassador and check with him whether you speak for Qatar. Yours – The Dutch Government
Well, to that I say suck my d…..
Al-Baker is that you? I didn’t recognize the user name but the attitude and language gave you away. Welcome to DN.
Shut up and never talk unless granted permission to, or I will have your government revoke your citizenship.
Ah, my citizenship can’t be revoked, but thank you for reminding me of something that you will never know. Anyway, welcome to the forum, it is good to have you here. I’m sure that many look forward to talking with you. Oh, as for the whole suck thing, it is a kind offer, but I forgot my magnifying glass today.
I don’t know whether this is joking, or trying to be serious…
I would like to think it is an attempt to joke around.
I took it as joking around.
Yeah I did too 😛
But you never know with internet peoples!!!…can be tricky.
that’s not very nice.
Wouldn’t they say all that in Dutch?
Most Dutch I know speak better English than your average ‘merican, and it is for international communication, so I would think that English would be the way to go.
sneaky buggers – they’ll have us all eating cheese before you know it
Deleting for going off topic.
He is odious isn’t he?
GDP QAT about 200 billion
GDP NLD about 800 billion
Who needs who exactly?
WOW you’re comment reflects how educated you are! You probably work for HSBC or someone large financial institution.
Your* assuming I work…
Actually, his figures are correct!
Or her
NOT correct!
So what if they are correct if the conclusion drawn is very inaccurate and incorrect?
wouldn’t that depend on what conclusion you’re trying to draw? the point is the NLD economy is about 4 times larger than the QAT economy and if people make silly threats or just ineptly word realities I don’t think the Dutch are going to care too much or perhaps they’ll just look less favourably to allowing more flights into AMS.
It’s not about the size of economies as much as it is about where economic activity can offer potential growth for national companies or invite investment into depressed economic areas.
This is why you find European nations which economy wise are much stronger than the Netherlands still trying to win favour with Qatar, as is evident to anyone involved in politics and business in Qatar, and as manifested in the numerous articles covering these commercial dynamics, such as this one from the BBC which is aptly titled “Competing for Qatari Money”.
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-21785904
By stronger do you mean bigger?
Sorry, I should have clarified that better, as in stronger influence by virtue of size.
*your comment*
Qatar have 900 billion maybe little more now :)))) sorry for that…
Sister other account 6 millon dolar x 600000 population maybe more = 3600000000000 .if not true someone let me know
It may be true, but I can’t understand it. Please rewrite.
Really cool how you understand economics, economic dependence between countries is now based on size of economies irrespective of the actual needs of the countries.
I suggest you go do some reading before you spew nonsense, because you will find Qatar survives on its exports to Asia more than Europe, there is nothing unique Holland can provide Qatar except for maybe good weed and hookers.
“spew nonsense” – that’s not very civil. “Survives” is probably an apt term for Qatar given the enormous dependence on one economic output in the middle of a region of geopolitical turmoil. I think you’ll find NLD has a pretty diversified economy with multiple export markets. My original point stands – it’s of more benefit to QAT to have extra slots at AMS than it is to NLD. QR just has a strange way of trying to get them. You forgot cheese and tulips btw.
You could argue some sort of dependency of NLD on this region for energy exports but hey – that’s a dying industry anyway…
Indeed that comment was not civil at all, I am abroad right now, it’s very early in the morning and I haven’t had my “wake up” coffee, however none of those reasons are why I was not civil, I was just trying to be brash like Akbar in the hope that a powerful someone reads it and makes me a CEO too. I hope you can understand.
My response to you in another comment includes an article that refers to what I have been saying about commercial interests from the Dutch side, however what you’re saying would make sense perhaps during another economic period. Btw tulips are now found in abundance everywhere and not as special as they once were, but you’re right about the cheese though, if they ever stop the flow of Edam I would seriously boycott QA.
Deleting for personal attack (“spew nonsense”).
shouldn’t you use GDP per capita to have a more accurate picture….
It should them be QAT GDP per capita about 93K
while NLD GDP per capita is only about 50K
You could argue that but it depends what you’re trying to establish. In the end the NLD economy is bigger than the QAT economy. If you’re talking about how that impacts individuals in each economy then that would make more sense but even then only if you take into account how evenly distributed it was in the respective economies.
Maybe you do leverage your country’s position to open up more routes for your National Airline, he won’t be the first and he won’t be the last, but only the truly stupid announce blackmail in public. Do any of these people get training in diplomacy or PR, they come across as rank ameuters or bullies.
When the gas Qatar has becomes not that valuable and they burn through their reserves in a couple of years, these countries will remember this and Qatar will suffer when it needs friends the most.
Only to find out that Qatar had already bought enough of the world to keep the wheel of the economy in Qatar turning.
You mean the top few families purchased a lot overseas. Do you really think they will share with everyone when your ride on easy street is over? I’d start saving in dollars now if I were a Qatari.
Technically they only made some prominent or high profile purchases. On the scale of global trade these were peanuts.
Exactly
If QIA makes a 10% return on investment (which they probably would since they were bought right after the financial crisis at baregin) that would equal to around 300k riyals per person annually. Not bad for a investment strategy that has just begun.
They didn’t have to share the LNG wealth either, look at how many resource rich countries have citizens living in abject poverty.
So who exactly are you to know what will happen or not?
If you for once you actually read books on the subjects you waffle on cluelessly about, you’d know it is not considered “blackmail” if one country imposes trade restrictions/measures on a another country that does something that hampers the former country’s commercial trade in the latter.
“Burn through their reserves in a couple of years”?, I am not going to even comment on how dumb this comment is. Lol.
You seem to have a thing for reading books. Are you a librarian?
You can read books digitally…when were you born?
And librarians don’t like ebooks? I shouldn’t really tell but I was born a long long time ago.
No they don’t, as the e-book revolution will destroy public libraries as it did traditional bookstores. Once they retire or win the lottery it may be a different story, this of course presuming they aren’t already married to a rich spouse or inherited a lot of wealth.
You might want to check out overdrive.com
Or http://qnl.qa
Under find answers, online resources..
Deleting this thread for irrelevance.
I don’t understand why my comment was deleted. Maybe you didn’t understand it or Al Baker got to you. Good to know that Al Baker dictates Qatar foreign and economic policy and not the Emir. I wonder of Sheik Tamin knows
Busy deleting day ……
Akbar Al Baker must be really stiupid if he thinks money can buy anything.
As the really stupid Saudis discovered when Sweden cancelled arms deals with Saudi worth hundreds of millions , due to their human rights attitude.
This would be the best case to compare with:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada%E2%80%93United_Arab_Emirates_relations#Aviation
He is not stupid, you are for comparing a deal revoked on HR grounds, to one where a country promises to retaliate where it believes a certain country is restricting its ability to trade in that market.
It’s not very polite to imply people are stupid and it’s not a very good argument for your case.
Deleting for calling people ‘stupid.’
As you like, its your site.
Perhaps deleting calling people ” big liar nose” would be more relevant (by Turkish above)
I guess it comes down to who you are……
What happens if someone calls someone a “Stupid big nose liar”? Does only half the comment get deleted?
Holland does not need Qatar.
Which is why they invested $20 billion in Qatar.
Doesn’t that mean Qatar needed Holland?
And? There are lots of places willing to take their money.
Just because a country invests does not mean that they are dependent on that country.
For example when Qatar invested in setting up hotels and other businesses in Tunisia or when Saudi started opening businesses and investing money in Bosnia&Herzegovina; it was to help bolster their economies, infrastructure, tourism, strengthen ties etc.
Qatar does not need Tunisia and Saudi does not need Bosnia; it was more of a gesture to help.
By that logic Qatar is heavily dependent on the UK.
Every country need Qatar for work or businnes. if someone said no need big liar big liar nose:))))))))
Ummm, that is so incorrect as to be laughable. New Zealand, Canada, Norway, nor Brunei (as a few examples among many) no more ‘need’ Qatar than Qatar needs them.
like pinocchio
I would not say every country. Qatar is doing well and I am proud of that, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
The U.S. I am sure does not need Qatar…neither does Russia, etc.
It is not about who needs us. I could care less to be honest.
It is odd to me however for a company to speak on behest of a country (as in the quote he is speaking for the government of Qatar) and be able to throw threats in the nation’s name.
Seems a bit detrimental any way you look at it.
Indeed. One would think that he would be seen as a hindrance to Qatari diplomacy.
More like Qatar does not need Holland. You clearly are ignorant to the state of the European economies aren’t you? Good thing you aren’t in a position to act on your fantasy interpretation of world economies.
But then Holland simply isn’t that unhealthy. They have good terms of trade, little long term unemployment and even some GDP growth. They’re not Greece. Where’s the problem?
Holland is not doing that bad. Their economy has been relatively stable. They have ups and downs but that’s normal.
European economies covers a whole range. That is like saying ‘Arab world’ economies – you got your Yemens and your Egypts and then you got your UAEs.
Most people in Holland do not even know that Qatar is a country.
Most of those people are not in positions that matter politically or commercially.
Not true, at least politically they call the tune to which the government dances – might take a while, but that is the way it is.
You mean as voters?
As those with whom ultimate power rests – yes.
Don’t you think that is too broad to paint them as politically relevant when several times in the past democratically elected leaders don’t fulfill what they promised to do during the campaigning period? Promises that would draw certain voters to their cause?
I can’t comment on the Dutch system as I don’t know much about it, but in the USA/UK what I described happens a lot, essentially rendering the voter’s choice more for a specific person rather than policies they claimed they would pursue.
Mmmm, that is certainly a discussion to have. I am not familiar enough with how the Brits and Americans do things to have a meaningful comment, but the American system does seem particularly drawn that way. However, I would never say that voters are politically irrelevant -governments do get removed all the time. Just a vote in Canada that came down to an absolute tie, 1 person and 1 person only would have swung the direction of the government – that is quite the power.
I disagree with this statement – they didn’t know, but I am sure that they do know.
Anyhow…. First scale Dubai then Amsterdam…30%? cheaper
Hmmmmmmmm….!!!! not the right way to carry out business with a free, open and democratic country. They would treat this utterances as blackmail out there
Tell that to the countries who have various trade pacts with the US but complain of the protectionism in that market.
Isn’t the WTO the forum for such discussions?
It is, and many other such forums, however that is no guarantee that what is discussed and agreed on there will lead to the parties involved actually doing what they committed to do.
True but that’s the nature of the best.
Indeed it is…
Oops I meant “beast”
This is not news…it is expected behaviour. News would be, Mr Al Bakr released a press statement that declared a change in policy where blatant abuse of workers human rights has stopped. Female crew members are now allowed to marry and even have children if they wish, with parental leave now applicable to those woman who wish to continue their career and also begin a family…..that would be news.
So this guy claims that QA has nothing to do with the government and that it is a business like any other, but when he faces hurdles he starts issuing threats that the Qatari government will exert political pressure to guarantee the business advantages of QA!! Now I see why American regulators are seriously investigating QA’s practices. You can’t threaten other countries using the Qatari government card and get away with it, at least not with some countries/regulators.
Maybe they’re just investigating because the American airlines are really big and they want to squash potential opposition.
Regardless of the real motives of the US regulator’s investigation, this guy needs to be cautious as his words can be interpreted as directly coming from the government, even though he is not an official representative of the government. This kind of bullying does not sit well with many people and governments in the West.
Or they are investigating because Qatar Airways is bleeding money and in order to stem the loss they have engaged in behaviour that violates the agreements that they have entered into?
Business is business. Profit is profit. Oh well Qatar airways should resume flights from Doha to Cebu, not in Manila. Twice a week doh-cbu is better than going to Manila.
Pundits are saying that if QR are given additional flights to Manila, they are going to cancel their flights to Clark as well.
But heaps of people use Clark coz it is such a hassle getting out of Manila. Why don’t they just put the prices up?
Don’t know. Emirates and Etihad cancelled their flights to Clark after getting additional flights to Manila international airport and now QA is asking for more additional flights to Manila.
I don’t know why nobody sees the Irony of this article. Qatar Airways denies it receives Government subsidies for its operations. And yet they can easily threaten a country saying if they can’t get what they want, the Qatar Government will stop giving them contracts? Wow…
It does make you wonder who al-Baker thinks he is, doesn’t it? Thing is, words like those are going to come back and bite him in the posterior when hearings start being held.
The leopard shows his spots. Trade agreements tend to be sorted out by discussion and negotiation, not by threats in the media.
By people who have no official standing at that. How laughable.
Well he has to find somewhere to fly all those new airplanes to, doesn’t he?
Whew, quite a discussion! Closing the thread now.