Akbar Al Baker to retire from Qatar Airways after 27 years

Akbar Al Baker

One of the most formidable CEOs in the logistics space is to retire next month: the small but mighty Akbar Al Baker of Qatar Airways, after 27 years in the job.

The aviation industry abounds with stories of Mr Al Baker – many of them pretty intimidating – but there is no argument that he turned QR into a top-class global carrier.

During an interview with The Loadstar several years ago, he noted that one of the biggest challenges had been forbidding government, or other local officials, from treating the airline as a state-owned – and therefore free-of-charge – carrier. He insisted on everyone buying tickets, rather than treating it as Qatar’s own private jet fleet.

But he also fought many battles internationally – whether against US carriers claiming an unlevel playing field, financially, or via alliances or neighbouring countries during the blockade of Qatar; or Airbus’s aircraft, the hypocrisy of Europe’s carriers or Changi Airport, Mr Al Baker has never shied from a fight – indeed he is often found starting them. (Some of them were even more controversial – he has made several misogynistic comments, and at one time the contracts for Qatar’s female cabin attendants were truly shocking)

Several companies and executives in the industry are likely to emit a sigh of relief that Mr Al Baker’s reign has come to an end. But there seems little chance that he will fade into quiet retirement. The Loadstar’s money is on him taking over at IATA, once Wille Walsh decides he has broken the association sufficiently and that his pension pot is big enough. Who knows what that could mean for IATA, which has housed autocratic aggressive airline bosses before (see Giovanni Bisginani), to large effect.

Mr Al Baker will be replaced at QR by the chief operating officer of Doha’s Hamad International Airport, Badr Mohammed Al-Meer, no doubt a decision made by Mr Al Baker, so it will be interesting to see what changes, if any, are made at the top-flight carrier.