CEO Akbar Al-Baker said Qatar Airways would be "delighted" to take a stake in IndiGo.Mumbai:Qatar Airways will not buy a stake in Jet Airways as a substantial portion of debt-laden carrier is held by Etihad Airways, whose owner Abu Dhabi is an "enemy" of Qatar, its CEO Akbar al-Baker said on Tuesday.
Abu Dhabi is part of United Arab Emirates that cut ties with Qatar in 2017 over accusations of supporting terrorism.
Doha denies charges.
The UAE, together with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain have banned Qatar Airways since June of that year as part of dispute."We would definitely look at it (Jet Airways) if a 24 per cent stake was not held by Etihad," Mr al-Baker told Reuters on sidelines of an aviation conference in Mumbai.
"How can I take a stake in an airline which is owned by our adversary"Etihad plans to hike its stake in Jet to help carrier with its financial woes, a person close to Abu Dhabi carrier told Reuters late on Monday.Mr Al-Baker said Qatar Airways would be "delighted" to take a stake in IndiGo, largest airline in country - home to world's fastest growing aviation market.The Qatari airline has previously expressed an interest in investing in IndiGo, owned by InterGlobe Aviation."But not in an airline where substantial ownership is by enemy of my country," he said, referring to Jet.Qatar Airways posted a 252 million riyal ($67.18 million) loss for financial year ended March 31, 2018, as it lost access to 18 destinations due to political dispute.As part of a broader effort to diversify its portfolio outside its home market, Qatari carrier purchased a 10 per cent stake in Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways in 2017 and 5 per cent in China Southern Airlines Co this month.Qatar Airways also remains interested in starting a fully owned airline in India, Mr al-Baker said on Tuesday, but that is not allowed under current foreign investment rules.Given China and India "are biggest growing markets, it is obvious as an airline we want to invest strategically in those regions because we ourselves are a very rapidly growing airline", he said.Mr Al-Baker has threatened publicly to pull Qatar Airways out of oneworld airline alliance despite holding minority stakes in members Cathay Pacific, British Airways and LATAM Airlines Group SA.China Southern in November said it would exit rival SkyTeam alliance, in a move that opened potential for it to join oneworld."Joining oneworld is entirely their business decision and we always will respect as a stakeholder decision made by majority shareholder," Mr al-Baker said of China Southern.($1 = 3.7511 riyals)