LUXEMBOURG: Qatar Airways has acquired a 35 percent stake in Europe's leading air freight firm, Luxembourg's Cargolux, and agreed to enhance mutual cooperation, Cargolux said yesterday.
Announcing the deal, Cargolux International Airlines SA said the two struck "a strategic equity partnership (including) ... the acquisition of a 35 percent stake in Cargolux and a commercial cooperation."
The agreement was signed in Luxembourg yesterday by Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker and Cargolux President and CEO Frank Reimen in the presence of the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani, and Luxembourg's Minister of Finance Luc Frieden.
The Prime Minister also witnessed the signing of several other MoUs between the two countries.
The accord will give Qatar Airways a greater foothold in the growing freight business offering synergies with the cargo operator, which has a global reach from its Luxembourg hub.
Doha-based Qatar Airways Cargo provides freight services to more than 100 destinations, worldwide using the cargo space available on Qatar Airways' passenger aircraft fleet. In addition, the carrier operates dedicated freighters to over 30 destinations within the airline's international route map.
Qatar Airways operates a mixed fleet of 98 passenger, cargo and corporate jet aircraft. Its freighter fleet comprises five aircraft - three Airbus A300-600s and two Boeing 777s flying across six continents.
Cargolux operates a fleet of 16 Boeing 747 freighters flying to over 90 destinations around the world. It will be the launch customer of Boeing's next generation wide body 747-8 Freighters with 13 of the aircraft-type on order.
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said: "The agreement signed today is the first major step by Qatar Airways towards substantially expanding the cargo side of its operations, a great opportunity to capitalise on a rapid growth business.
"I am delighted that we have now found such an excellent strategic partner in Qatar Airways, a leading Middle East carrier and one of the fastest growing airlines in the world," said Marc Hoffmann, chairman of the Cargolux board.
Luxair has a 52.1 percent stake in Cargolux. In 2009, SAirlines, part of Swissair which went into bankruptcy, ceded its 33.7 percent stake in Cargolux to three stakeholders in the company and to Luxembourg, pending a longterm buyer.
After several years in the red, Cargolux, which has a fleet of 16 B747-400 freighters and covers 90 destinations, last year turned a profit of $59.8m on turnover of $1.75bn.
© The Peninsula 2011
