Qatar Airways Group CEO Akbar Al Baker recently hosted
a press briefing with national and regional Italian media while on a visit to
Tuscany.
The visit, which celebrated Qatar Airways’
new flight to Pisa that started in August, was attended by Abdulaziz Al Jehani, Qatar’s ambassador to Italy.
“Italy is an incredibly important destination in our network
and we will keep investing in new routes and increased services in this market,”
Al Baker said. “Once the runway extension at
Florence Airport is complete, we fully intend to start a service to this
historic city, which is so important to tourism in the region. We are also
committed to upgrading the aircraft type currently flying to Pisa from an A320
to a wide body model as soon as we receive more aircraft in our fleet.”
Al Baker also gave an update on the status of Qatar Airways’
negotiations with Meridiana Fly for a deal giving it 49 percent stake in the
Italian airline.
“We are hoping to have our discussions concluded by the end
of January,” he said. “During this period, Meridiana Fly also has to deliver certain conditions and achieve certain
targets in its performance. We want Meridiana Fly to be a very strong national
carrier with a robust international network, creating jobs for the young people
of Italy.”
