In one of the periodic infusions of new blood increasingly seen in the Gulf, Qatar Airways is looking ahead to a new generation of leadership with the appointment of incoming CEO Badr Al Meer.
Qatar Airways announced on October 23 that group chief executive Akbar Al Baker would step down effective November 5, yielding contol of the airline to Al Meer. The airline gave no reason for Al Baker’s departure.
Al Baker built an airline that now consists of 241 aircraft, 43,000 employees, and more than 160 worldwide destinations from scratch.
Al Meer takes the position after 10 years as COO of Hamad International Airport, where he oversaw a $2.7 billion expansion project and the FIFA World Cup 2022, which drew more than a million visitors.
Under Al Baker's leadership, Qatar Airways had grown “to become one of the most recognizable and trusted brands globally, synonymous with customer service quality and the highest of standards,” said the airline. “Qatar Airways Group’s contribution to helping deliver the best ever FIFA World Cup showcased to the world its capability, commitment to excellence, and passion for bringing the world together.”
Al Baker, who launched the airline in 1997, remained a prickly customer who didn’t suffer fools gladly, as exemplified by the bitter dispute with Airbus over A350 paintwork, which ultimately saw him resurrect the relationship. But he also had a soft center.
Along with creating a world-class airline, Al Baker turned Qatar Executive, with its fleet of multiple Gulfstream, Bombardier, and Airbus business jets, into the envy of the rest of the Gulf, itself one of the world’s most discerning business jet markets.
In 2017, he acknowledged that “dark clouds” were gathering over the airline’s future after the imposition of a boycott on Qatar by Arab neighbors. He considered suing them for $5 billion for the damage done by neighboring airspace closures and other indignities when they lifted the boycott in early 2021.
The airline’s focus on cargo operations saw it pull ahead of Emirates on performance volumes in 2018. After posting strong results during the Covid pandemic, Qatar became the world’s busiest passenger-carrying cargo airline, transporting 14.3 million cargo tonne kilometers in 2022, behind only Fedex and UPS, according to Air Cargo News data.
Al Meer has promised to continue Al Baker's legacy and “invest in the priorities and concerns of [his] generation” as he tackles one of the Middle East’s biggest aviation jobs.
A Europe-based aviation consultant praised Al Baker’s tenure. “I think Qatar Airways has performed incredibly well under Akbar Al Baker’s leadership, and obviously he is a very strong personality,” he told AIN. “I think without him, it wouldn’t be where it is today. It’s certainly a premier-league global airline.”