Akbar takes DC: Qatar's clever chief charms the capital

Akbar wouldn’t say where’s next, except to acknowledge that Houston had appeared on one of Qatar’s maps and that it might be logical to assume that oil-rich Qatar has something in common with the US energy capital. He did say that Latin America, which has no Qatar service, would get it soon, as would Australia, also presently without service from the carrier. Akbar also said that Qatar would add two routes to India by year end, with service to Nagpur and Ahmadabad, its seventh and eighth destinations in the fast growing market. It also starts the previously announced Stockholm service, its first in Scandinavia, late this year.

And Akbar was equally coy when asked about alliances even though he was seated next to United‘s alliances chief, Michael Whitaker. Akbar said almost philosophically, “We will have time to choose an alliance. After all, there has to be reason to be in an alliance”. He did acknowledge that Qatar has more bilateral relationships with Star Alliance members than with members of other global groupings. Qatar and United will code share on the Washington Dulles flights, giving Qatar access to big US cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles, and, Whitaker said, giving United new access to Kuala Lumpur; Colombo, Sri Lanka; Peshawar, Pakistan, and the Maldives. This last, Whitaker said, "made my wife very happy". And premium-class passengers can wait in Qatar's luxurious lounge, about which both Akbar and Mike Whitaker were enthusiastic.

Akbar wouldn’t say if Qatar is definitely going to buy the Boeing 787 even though the airline’s logo had appeared on the plane’s first exemplar when Boeing rolled it out the other week. “You’ll have to wait until the next air show for that information,” he said slyly. He did say that an order for 20 777s that Qatar placed last September came with an additional 20 options and that the airline would convert those. And he did say that the airline was cooperating with Shell and Qatar’s national oil-and-gas company in research on gas-to-liquid fuels. But this was Washington, where journalists replaced the beautiful people like those who swarmed Qatar's classy New York reception (see our blog of July 4). So Akbar had to deal with the ink-stained wretches and their queries. One reporter asked about increasing competition in the Gulf region, rolling off a list of the fast-growing carrers based there. But when she came to Etihad, Akbar asked the reporter to repeat the name. “I haven’t heard of that airline,” he said, winking broadly at reporters. Akbar can, though, be the soul of diplomacy: when a reporter asked “what keeps you up at night?” he was able to keep a straight face and respond without giggling, laughing, or guffawing. “Nothing,” he said. “I sleep very well, thank you for asking”.