Interviewing Qatar Airways' brilliant chief executive Akbar Al Baker in his Doha HQ is a game of patience. Everyone wants to talk to him. Requests for an audience are filtered by his communications department and "99% are turned down". We are one of the lucky ones.
Even when a slot in his diary has been sorted out weeks in advance, grabbing those crucial 15 minutes is a challenge. After a lengthy wait, we are ushered through two ante-rooms to his office, a comfortable and spacious, but not overly-grand, suite with a view over the airport.
Al Baker warns us that he has little time. There can be few airline bosses quite as hands-on as the Qatar Airways CEO - almost everything the airline does has to be approved by him. His stamp is on every aspect of Qatar Airways' brand values. During our 15 minutes he takes several urgent calls, drifting from Arabic into English, the tone always courteous but short and to the point. He does not do social chatter.
But when he does get talking, it is always great value - soundbites which make the industry mighty quake: he warns Airbus that Qatar Airways is unhappy with the performance of the A350-1000 and threatens Boeing that any further delay in its first 787 delivery - due in July - will not be tolerated.
He talks potential acquisitions and about the transformational potential of the new Doha airport. Ever the professional, he agrees to step through to the board room next door for a portrait and 45-second video interview, which he rattles off perfectly in one take. Then, in a flash of white, he is off. We have had our 15 minutes - but we've got all we need.
Read our story on http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/qatar-not-in-the-market-for-acquisitions-al-baker-369089/
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