FRANKFURT - Qatar Airways on Monday drew a cold response from German rival Deutsche Lufthansa to the Gulf carrier's reported interest in taking a stake in or collaborating with the German airline.
Qatar Airways is considering taking a stake in Germany's Lufthansa, to seize business opportunities in Germany, its chief executive Akbar al-Baker was quoted as saying by German news agency dpa on Sunday.
"We did not have Lufthansa privatised in Germany to have it nationalised in Qatar," a Lufthansa spokesman said, when asked to comment on the report.
Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr has repeatedly criticised Gulf carriers such as Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad Airways of receiving what he describes as unfair state subsidies.
(Reporting by Ilona Wissenbach Writing by Ludwig Burger Editing by Riham Alkousaa) ((ludwig.burger@thomsonreuters.com; +49 69 7565 1311; Reuters Messaging: ludwig.burger.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
