BA Chief Highlights ‘Threat’ From Middle East Carriers, FT Says
Europe is financing the expansion of Middle East airlines at the expense of its own carriers, according to Willie Walsh, British Airways Plc’s chief executive officer, the Financial Times reported.
Speaking at an aviation conference in Brussels, Walsh criticized an informal agreement that prohibits Europe and the U.S. from giving local airlines export credit guarantees for the purchase of Airbus and Boeing aircraft, the newspaper said.
That accord means carriers such as BA, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Air France-KLM Group are denied access to financing available to Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways Ltd., which are “a very significant threat,” the FT cited Walsh as saying.
To contact the reporter on this story: Alan Purkiss in London on apurkiss@bloomberg.net.
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