After greater than 1 / 4 of a century on the helm of Qatar Airways, Akbar Al-Baker will step down as CEO on November 5, 2023.
In 27 years, Akbar Al-Baker developed Qatar Airways from a regional provider to one of many largest luxurious airways on the planet. Beginning in November 2023, that is the place the corporate can be on the helm.
The nationwide provider introduced that Al-Baker will resign from his place on November 5, 2023, to be succeeded by Doha Hamad Worldwide Airport (DOH) Chief Working Officer Badr Mohammed Al-Meer.
Baker credited with airline modernization and controversial feedback
Al-Baker has spent his life in enterprise and aviation, and his official Qatar Airways biography lists him as an economics and commerce graduate who rose by means of the ranks on the nation’s Civil Aviation Authority. In 1997, Al-Baker was elevated to the workplace of CEO, with the aim of reworking the nationwide airline.
Throughout his 27-year profession, Al-Baker reworked a regional provider into an airline big that flies to greater than 130 locations worldwide. The airline says his management led to the development of QSuites enterprise class in 2017, creating the first-ever two-bed cabin product. Along with working Qatar Airways, Al-Baker additionally ran a number of Qatari aviation companies, together with Hamad Worldwide Airport, Qatar Aviation Companies and Qatar Responsibility Free. Amongst his honors are the French Legion of Honor, the CAPA Heart for Aviation Government of the Yr 2017, and he has twice served as Chairman of the Board of Administrators of the Worldwide Air Transport Affiliation (IATA).
His reign on the airline was not with out controversy. In 2015, US legacy carriers accused Qatar Airways – together with Center Jap airways Emirates and Etihad Airways – of accepting unlawful subsidies from their governments. In response to a number of the rhetoric, Al-Baker stated of former Delta Air Strains CEO Richard Anderson, “Let him face me in any discussion board … I am going to dangle him on the wall.” He additionally as soon as referred to as American flight attendants “grandmothers,” stated an airline CEO “…have to be led by a person, as a result of it is a very difficult place,” and as soon as threatened to stop the Oneworld alliance when Qantas opposed Qatar’s enlargement into Australia.
The airline didn’t present particulars on why he was leaving the submit, as an alternative selecting to thank him for his management and contribution to the nation’s 2022 FIFA World Cup.
He was changed in that place by Badr Mohammed Al-Meer, who held the place of operations director for Hamad Worldwide Airport since 2014. In a paid question-and-answer session with Forbes Center East, the CEO outlined his ideas on the airport’s significance and his plans for the airport’s enlargement. Below his “Part A” plan, the airport goals to serve 58 million fliers a 12 months, including one other lodge and growing the variety of lounges.
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