Qatar Airways submitted clearance to buy stake: American Airlines

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On Wednesday, the American Airlines Inc issued a statement that state-owned Qatar Airways has updated its antitrust filing with the regulators in the United States and looking for a clearance buying up to a 10% stake in the U.S carrier. But, any kind of detail wasn’t provided on the new filing. At the other end, the Americans indicated that they are finishing code-share agreements with both Etihad Airways of Abu Dhabi and Qatar Airways due to a trade conflict with these 2 Middle Eastern Airlines. The Americans said that Qatar Airways was the largest U.S carrier in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which showed willingness to buy up to 10% of American. Now, they have pulled back their former antitrust filing with the Federal Trade Commission and schemed a new filing on Monday.

The representatives from Qatar Airways were unable to give any comment regarding the issue. The Chief Executive of Qatar Airways, Akbar Al-Baker also said last week that the carrier is looking to buy shares on the open market instead of Americans. The FTC didn’t comment or disclose any kind of detail about requests for antitrust approval submitted by companies looking to get stakes in counterparts. It is important that the rules of American Airline need advance approval from its board in purchasing a stake of 4.75% or more. Last month, the airline pointed out that there are foreign ownership laws that bound the entire percentage limit of foreign voting interest to 24.9%. The decision of cancelling code-share agreements will allow airlines to book passengers on each other’s flights and it would raise conflict between the U.S carriers and Gulf competitors.