Our losses will continue and the worst is yet to come

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar Al-Baker said that the worst is yet to come for the company, whose business has been severely damaged in the midst of the Corona pandemic, amid a marked drop in demand, a decline in sales, and the disruption of dozens of airlines that the airline flies to.

In an interview with the American CNBC network, Al-Baker added that the continuation of the pandemic will cast a shadow over the performance of his company and the aviation sector in general, noting the difficulty of any recovery for the company’s business and the aviation sector before 2024, amid the strictures taken by governments to curb the spread of the virus.

Qatar Airways incurred losses estimated at about $ 1.9 billion in the fiscal year 2019-2020 due to the consequences of the pandemic, which are record losses for the company at a time when Al-Baker indicated that these numbers will not be the end of his company’s train of losses, with expectations of continuing in the near future.

He said, “I would like to inform you that our losses will continue because every flight will continue to record losses with the fact that the number of passengers available to travel is constantly decreasing … or that there are a large number of passengers to transport them as is happening with us now, but flights are one-way because most airports around the world. It has closed its doors due to the pandemic. “

Al-Baker called for continued government support for his company and said that any government in the world should support its airlines for the important role they play in supporting the national economy.

Qatar Airways received a government aid package estimated at about two billion dollars to compensate for its losses and the continuation of its operation, which was severely affected by the pandemic, while Al-Baker indicated that his company will need more support in the coming months if the closures continue.

And the losses incurred by the company in the last fiscal year ending in March are the third consecutive annual losses, as it incurred losses of 69 million dollars in 2017 and about 639 million dollars in 2018.

The Qatari company was forced to lay off about 20% of its workforce due to the consequences of the pandemic, at a time when indicators point to a new wave of losses and layoffs due to the consequences of Corona.

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