Akbar Al Baker creates opportunity out of crisis

Your Deputy Prime Minister said today, “Qatar is stronger than ever”.

Yes, because the blockade was a blessing in disguise. We are now more independent than we were. We were relying on the Port of Jabal Thuaileb for transshipments. We were depending on the Saudi land border to supply us with food, dairy products, and goods that were coming by road. All this was closed. Our shipments were diverted back from Jabal Thuaileb to the ports of origin… which meant depriving the State of Qatar of a lot of important commodities.

But fortunately, we had some strong friends – Turkey and Iran – who are very important and with whom we have a political and economic relationship that immediately opened the airways. Because without them, the country would not have been able to be supplied. Qatar Airways, of course, played a very important part in resupplying the country.

I saw your most recent interview with CNN’s Richard Quest the other day. Fascinating. You said that Qatar is winning this dispute…

Yes, we are.

What makes you say that?

Can I ask you for your read of the current situation? There have been a lot of rumblings that we're getting close to a resolution. The Khashoggi affair is a factor…

I don't think so.

Really?

I think that, if anything, they are digging their heels in even further against my country.

People have realised that Hamad International is synonymous with their brand. We are one of the finest airports and one of the best designed. We have an airport that has very high standards of quality. So, they all want to be here, and it is a great source of pride for us as Qataris for our airport to be recognised in the category of the world's five-star airports.

It's nearing five years since you opened Hamad International. How would you assess progress? How pleased are you with where the airport is today?

I am very pleased that we have achieved what we wanted to in the first two phases of the airport, and now the big challenge I have is to go ahead and construct Phase Three.

What can you tell me about that?

Again, we will provide passenger amenities in that expansion, which are equal if not better than what we already have.

Any lessons from the first phase?

Yes, always we will learn lessons from the first phase in order that we ensure that the revenue-earning part of the airport is very well looked after. We won’t repeat some of the mistakes that we did with the current one, where we had to do a lot of modification to the flow of the customers.

Have you got that right now?

You've told me before that you like to balance the cultural with the commercial. You're not a crass airport operator in the sense of having commercial operations shoved in the consumer’s face.

No, we want to balance it. We want people not to feel that they are being dragged into areas that they don't want to go. We don't want to impose the duty free experience on people if they don't want it.

I've asked you this before but it's always a relevant question. You must have your door knocked on constantly by the world's biggest, most prestigious duty free retailers as well as other commercial concessionaires. And yet you've always stuck with the in-house model and are very proud of that. Why?

We want to do things the way we want. We don't want anybody to impose what they want us to do, to put it simply.

And how would you define the essence of what you want to do?

We want to have a duty free that people feel is a mall experience, not an experience where people walk straight into a shop that they want to avoid. Because once you clutter your duty free in a way that is obstructing people who want a quick flow, then it impedes the passengers. And we don't want to do that.

But at the same time, we want to give people freedom if they want to have their own space.

At the start you mentioned that your duty free sales rose by +1% after the blockade was imposed…

…Yes. But you when are over -20% down on passenger numbers and +1% up on sales, it's not a bad result.

It's not a bad one at all because the industry tends to rely a lot on that escalator of passenger growth. And if one can grow beyond that, and in this case beyond a negative, that's some performance. What do you think has driven that?

What are your views on the digital world. We've seen the carnage on the High Street, with Sears and lots of department stores all around the world being bankrupted or severely disrupted…

It is because people are now doing shopping online. But I think [for department stores] that their online services are to the detriment of their plans because… there will be a time when they will just become like Amazon.

They will only be selling by mail, which is not good for their high-spending clientele because they still want to go to the shops and select what they want. They want to try something. They want to see how it looks. Something may look very good in the catalogue but when you wear it, it doesn't suit you, and you have bought it. Then, in future, you will not want to go to that brand again.

So, it is a double-edged sword, in my opinion.

And it strikes me, that there lies the crucial advantage you have here via your stores at Hamad International – the sensorial advantages, if you like. Taste, touch, smell.

Exactly.

Service, smiles, engagement.

All this is important. So, I think it is to the detriment of these brands that they are selling cheaper online than what they sell in their shops. And don't forget that they also have overheads in the shops, so they need to cover those by selling products at the price they want.

Do you see yourself becoming a bigger e-commerce player, though?

We would like to, especially in the airplane duty free sector. We would like people to be able to order online things that they cannot find in the airplane, or which can be found but not in the quantities people want.

You have this very rare advantage of controlling ground retailer, airline retailer, airport, and airline. Is there a possibility for a greater fusion of those entities, so that you can grow the overall cake? It almost doesn't matter where it's spent because you control all of it.

THE 2022 FIFA WORLD CUP

Let's jump forward to 2022. Are plans for the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar taking shape nicely?

Yes. You know, we are still four years away and 60-70% of the infrastructure is already ready.

What does the event mean for your airline and your airport?

For my airport it will be a big challenge. We will activate the old airport also, in order to cater for the massive influx of passengers and corporate jets. And I just keep my fingers crossed that we will be able to deliver by then.

QATAR DUTY FREE

Some closing questions. If I asked you how you'd like Qatar Duty Free to be thought of among your business partners and consumers, what would you say?

We want them to feel that when they come to Qatar Duty Free, it is a totally different experience – that they get good value for money, that they get personal attention by the staff, and that they don't walk out disappointed. It's very important that once you have a customer you don't then disappoint them because this, by word of mouth, would give a very negative feedback about Qatar Duty Free, especially when we want the spend by our transit passengers to increase.

You’re a very passionate and committed business leader. What drives you each and every day? What's the key thought that spurs Akbar Al Baker in the morning?

And, I suspect, a fair dose of patriotism also plays a role?

Well, that is always in the back of my mind, that whatever I do should be in the interest not of me as a person but a reflection of our country.

Any particular personal inspirations in your life?

The inspiration I have always is from what we want our country to be, what the leadership wants us to reflect. And this is driving us all the time.

How tough has the period since the blockade been in your own life?

It was very disappointing. You can expect this behaviour from people that are not related to you. But when you see these four countries that blockaded you, and you know that you have family relations, friends and acquaintances, and that you are neighbours…

For something like this to happen where families are torn apart, where kids are taken away from their parents, when you can't meet your friends, you can't even talk to them. So, we have a feeling of betrayal by the leaders of these four countries to the leader of Qatar.

And that manifests itself, I suspect, in a renewed determination. I see it in your eyes.

Yes. We will not capitulate nor will we be intimidated by anybody, and we will continue our life as normal. And we have proven to the world that things have not slowed us down, especially when our adversary [Saudi Arabia] said during the recent Riyadh investment conference that Qatar has a strong economy.

Yes, a very public admission of the shift….