Qatar Airways said it will go ahead with plans to buy a stake in American Airlines Inc. even though the US carrier is ending their code-share agreement.
American announced on Wednesday that it was canceling code-share agreements with Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways as “an extension of our stance against the illegal subsidies that these carriers receive from their governments.” Both Middle East airlines deny they are state subsidised.
American’s decision to end the agreements which allow airlines to book passengers on each other’s flights, ramps up an acrimonious dispute between US carriers and Gulf competitors over competitive advantages.
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar Al-Baker said on Thursday he was disappointed by the decision, but it would not affect the Middle East carrier’s plans to buy up to a 10 percent stake in American, announced last month.
“Our stock purchase request and filing is going ahead as normal. We had to clarify certain questions of the regulator, which we compiled with,” Al-Baker told reporters in Doha.
Qatar Airways sent a revised antitrust filing to US regulators on Wednesday seeking clearance to buy up to a 10 percent stake in the US carrier, according to the filing.
A stake in American would add to Qatar Airways’ investment portfolio, which already includes a 20 percent stake in British Airways-owner International Airlines Group and 10 percent of South America’s LATAM.
American Airlines CEO Doug Parker, however, said in a letter to his employees last month that “We aren’t particularly excited about Qatar’s outreach” and that it was puzzling given the US carrier’s very public stance on state support given to Gulf carriers.
“ANTI-CONSUMER“
American and other US carriers have charged that state subsidies allow Qatar Airways, Etihad and Emirates to offer lower fares and more amenities to long-haul, international travelers.
They are pressing the United States government to curb the Middle Eastern carriers’ access to US airports, and the White House is considering their request, according to government officials and airline executives who have spoken to the White House.
Al-Baker said American’s decision to end the code-share agreement was “not in the spirit of the oneworld alliance” and that Qatar Airways had other partners in the United States “who want to work with us.”
Qatar Airways, American Airlines, IAG’s British Airways, Iberia and LATAM are all members of the oneworld airline alliance.
Al-Baker previously said Qatar Airways would buy American shares on the open market before formally seeking board approval from the US carrier to increase its ownership.
The US airline’s own rules require advance approval from its board for the purchase of a stake of 4.75 percent or more.
American said on Wednesday that canceling code-sharing agreements with Qatar Airways and Etihad would not have a material financial impact for the US carrier.
Etihad, which flies to six US cities, accused American of being “anti-competitive” and “anti-consumer” and said it was disappointed with the decision.
An interline relationship between Etihad and American, which allows customers from two airlines to buy connecting flights on one ticket, would remain in place to connect passengers to secondary markets, an Etihad spokeswoman said. (Reporting by David Shepardson and Alana Wise, Reporting by Tom Finn in Doha; Additional reporting by Alexander Cornwell in Dubai; Editing by Leslie Adler and Susan Fenton)
Qatar Airways still pursuing American Airlines stake after code share hitch
Qatar Airways still pursuing American Airlines stake after code share hitch
Israel’s ‘deliberate intention of preventing births among Palestinians’ meets ‘legal criteria of Genocide Convention’: Reports
- Births in Gaza fell by 41% during conflict as maternal deaths, miscarriages surged
- ‘The destruction of maternal care in Gaza reflects the deliberate infliction of conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinian people, in whole or in part’
LONDON: Births in Gaza fell by 41 percent due to Israel’s war on the territory, with the conflict resulting in catastrophic numbers of maternal deaths, miscarriages and birth complications, two reports have found.
The data on pregnant women, babies and maternity care in the war-torn Palestinian enclave also revealed a surge in newborn mortality and premature births, The Guardian reported on Wednesday.
Dangerous wartime conditions and Israel’s systematic destruction of Gaza’s health systems were blamed for the alarming statistics.
The two reports were conducted by Physicians for Human Rights, in collaboration with the University of Chicago Law School’s Global Human Rights Clinic and Physicians for Human Rights — Israel.
Researchers highlighted Israel’s “deliberate intention of preventing births among Palestinians, meeting the legal criteria of the Genocide Convention.”
The reports build on earlier findings by PHR’s Israel branch. They place the testimonies of pregnant women and new mothers within the context of health data and field reports, which recorded “2,600 miscarriages, 220 pregnancy-related deaths, 1,460 premature births, over 1,700 underweight newborns, and over 2,500 infants requiring neonatal intensive care” between January and June 2025.
PHRI’s Lama Bakri, a psychologist and project manager, said: “These figures represent a shocking deterioration from pre-war ‘normalcy,’ and are the direct result of war trauma, starvation, displacement and the collapse of maternal healthcare.
“These conditions endanger both mothers and their unborn babies, newborns, and breastfed infants, and will have consequences for generations, permanently altering families.”
She added: “Beyond the numbers, what emerges in this report are the women themselves, their voices, choices and lived realities, confronting impossible dilemmas that statistics alone cannot fully capture.”
Maternal and newborn care in Gaza has been damaged by Israel’s destruction of health infrastructure, as well as fuel shortages, blocked medical supplies, mass displacement and relentless bombardment.
As a result, survival in Gaza’s overcrowded tent encampments has become the sole option for pregnant women and new mothers.
During the first six months of Israel’s war on the territory, more than 6,000 mothers were killed, at an average of two every hour, according to UN Women estimates.
It is also believed that about 150,000 pregnant women and new mothers have been forcibly displaced by the conflict.
In the first months of last year, just 17,000 births were recorded in Gaza, a 41 percent fall compared to the same period in 2022.
The researchers examined Israel’s apparent strategy to undermine Palestinian births, highlighting a targeted strike in December 2023 on the Al-Basma IVF clinic.
The attack on Gaza’s largest fertility center destroyed about 5,000 reproductive specimens and ended a pattern of 70-100 IVF procedures each month.
The strike was deliberately designed to target the reproductive potential of Palestinians, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry later found.
“Reproductive violence constitutes a violation under international law; when carried out systematically and with them intent to destroy, it falls within the definition of genocide of the Genocide Convention,” the reports said.
“The destruction of maternal care in Gaza reflects the deliberate infliction of conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinian people, in whole or in part.”
