June 2022 in one of the cooled down World Cup stadiums in Doha: Qatar Airways boss Akbar Al Baker gives the opening speech for the annual meeting of the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Most airlines had abandoned their passengers during the corona pandemic, he explained to his astonished audience. Qatar Airways, on the other hand, maintained connections all over the world. During the speech, some of the colleagues stood up and left in protest. Al Baker didn’t let on and then let Jennifer Lopez perform. He had them and the band flown in from the USA for a 45-minute performance.
So one cannot say that Al Baker was a man of compromise and balance. Internally, the 62-year-old was an iron-hard autocrat, externally he also liked to expose his business partners – Airbus people can tell dozens of not so pleasant anecdotes about this. He has already refused to take delivery of his first Airbus long-haul jet A350, because he didn’t like the color of a carpet in a small area. A gala evening that had already been fully prepared for hundreds of guests in Toulouse had to be canceled. But the ruling and the anecdotes are now over: Qatar Airways announced in a short statement that Badr Mohammed al Meer will be the new CEO from November 5th. The Al Baker era is over after 27 years.
Al Baker’s demise had been apparent for months for other reasons, according to informed circles. Chairman of the supervisory board Saad Sherida Al Kaabi – also energy minister and head of the powerful oil and gas company Qatar-Energy – has been demanding for some time that Al Baker install modern corporate governance at his airline in which the tasks and responsibilities are distributed among several heads become. Al Baker was apparently no longer willing to do that. The successor, Al Meer, was previously the operational head of Doha Airport, an insider who hardly anyone knows in the industry outside of Qatar.
In Al Baker, one of the most controversial but also most influential figures in the world is leaving the aviation industry. In 1997, the then 35-year-old took the helm of a mini-airline with a few aircraft that played no role internationally. He was given the mandate to build a mega hub similar to Emirates in Dubai and, much to the annoyance of Lufthansa, which complained about what it saw as unfair competitive conditions, was able to easily invest a high double-digit billion sum in aircraft and everything an airline needs . Under Al Baker, the airline also became a big player in sponsorship, including as a sponsor of FC Bayern Munich until summer 2023. Money didn’t seem to play a role, growth seemed to matter even more, and so the airline won award after award for its good in-flight product.
But everyone has had to endure public arguments with him at some point. “Boeing has clearly failed,” Al Baker said in 2010 because of the long-haul aircraft’s delays 787 and bought more aircraft from competitor Airbus. A good ten years later he argued with Airbus about defects in the fuselage surface of several of his aircraft A350-Jets, refused to take delivery of finished aircraft, went to court and demanded more than a billion US dollars in compensation. Airbus then canceled all outstanding orders. The stories became wilder and wilder and for those who weren’t affected, they were extremely entertaining.
But in Qatar itself, the constant escalation was apparently no longer well received, despite all the undeniable services to the airline. In the end, there was reportedly a clear political announcement from the Emir of Qatar to end the conflict. And Al Baker was also weakened at home. Last Sunday he was replaced as head of the Qatari Tourism Organization, and a day later at Qatar Airways. Al Baker said it had been “the honor of a lifetime to serve my country.”