Qatar Airways, American Airlines Reestablish Codeshare Ties

Qatar Airways and American Airlines have reestablished ties two years after an acrimonious divorce over alleged subsidies from Persian Gulf governments to their state-owned airlines. A new code-share deal announced Tuesday links American’s U.S. hubs with Hamad International Airport in Doha, allowing Qatar Airways’ passengers seamless travel options on AA domestic flights out of Boston, Dallas, Chicago O’Hare, Los Angeles, Miami, New York JFK and Philadelphia. Under the re-activated codeshare, American Airlines said it also will explore flying direct between the U.S. and Qatar.

“We have moved on from past issues and look forward to working closely with American Airlines to build a world-leading partnership for all our customers,” said Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker.

In July 2017 American notified both Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways that it would end their codeshare partnerships in protest of what it and the other major U.S. carriers characterize as illegal subsidies from the governments of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to the respective OneWorld alliance partners.

Since then, Qatar Airways agreed to abide by internationally recognized accounting and auditing standards and to refrain from introducing new fifth-freedom passenger flights to the U.S. as part of a deal with the Trump Administration to continue flying to the country under the Qatar-U.S. Open Skies pact. Signed in January 2018, the agreement called for airlines to issue public annual reports with externally audited financial statements and publicly disclose “significant” new transactions with state-owned enterprises and take steps to ensure that they base those transactions on commercial terms within two years. 

“The issues that led to the suspension of our partnership two years ago have been addressed, and we believe resuming our codeshare agreement will allow us to provide service to markets that our customers, team members, and shareholders value, including new growth opportunities for American Airlines," said American Airlines chairman and CEO Doug Parker. "We look forward to the renewed cooperation between our airlines and hope to build and even stronger relationship with Qatar Airways over time.”