The airline industry’s impact on global economy and people’s lives is huge, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive HE Akbar al-Baker said Tuesday.
Participating in a panel session at Qatar Economic Forum powered by Bloomberg he said: “People will travel and are still dependent on aviation because it plays such a large part of our life for leisure, business, trade and economic development. There is no alternative to airplanes,” al-Baker noted.
Referring to the debate on sustainability, especially in Europe, al-Baker said: “In one of the climate conferences a young girl wanted to prove to the world that they do not need planes and they can use the boat and she arrived at this conference in a boat. But where did she start the journey on the boat? How did she get there?
“Majority of the distance she covered was on the airplane because she could not cover that distance on the boat for the time she wanted to be at the conference. I don’t want to criticise her, but we have to be realistic,” al-Baker said.
Asked whether the aviation industry will be able to achieve net-zero emission by 2050, al-Baker noted: “I don’t think we will be able to achieve net zero emission by 2050. Everybody is talking about it. But let us be realistic. There is not enough production of SAF. The hydrogen project is in its infancy. People also do not know what hydrogen will generate when it flies at a high altitude.
“The hydrogen technology is expected to mature by the second half the century. Which means, after 2050. So, I am sceptical about this.”
In an interview with Bloomberg TV, al-Baker said Qatar Airways is ramping up routes to Europe, Africa, Asia, and big time in to China. Our fleet is already very young, so we can extend their operations further and when new technology that will be introduced we will then place orders for airplanes.”
“In relation to China, not only are our airlines are packed. Now that the lockdown has ended in China there is a huge appetite for the Chinese to travel out of China. The amount of money they spent at our duty free shops is more than any other nationality. So, you can see the potential Chinese market holds for the international aviation industry, and at the same time, for the retail trade around the world,” al-Baker told the Qatar Economic Forum.