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REUTERS
Qatar Airways is all set to buy 49 percent of Meridiana in a move that could bolster the Italian carrier’s ability to compete in the European market.
The agreement was reached at the Farnborough International Airshow and the deal will close in early October, subject to certain conditions, Qatar Airways said in a statement on Thursday.
The airline gave no further detail on the conditions or the price.
Meridiana had asked labour unions to agree to 900 job cuts — nearly half its workforce — as part of a planned partnership with Qatar Airways, a person involved in the talks told Reuters in February.
Last month, the Italian government, unions and Meridiana reached an agreement that opened the way for the deal to go ahead. However, the agreement included the loss of about 400 jobs, the union officials maintained in their records.
Meridiana, which offers flights to and from the island of Sardinia and other destinations in Italy and elsewhere, is owned by the Aga Khan, a businessman and spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslims.
The airline is operating under a government-sponsored restructuring plan to help turn it around.
“Partnering with Meridiana would only make Meridiana prosper, grow and actually increase the working population of Meridiana,” Qatar Airlines Chief Executive Akbar al-Baker said in April.
“But for the initial period there will be some pain on the part of employees,” he pointed out.
Qatar Airways holds around a 15 percent stake in British Airways parent IAG and has been open to making further investments to help to expand its reach.
The Middle East carrier is also considering taking a 25-49 percent stake in Morocco’s Royal Air Maroc, Baker has said.
Qatar Airways, is the state-owned flag carrier of Qatar. Headquartered in the Qatar Airways Tower in Doha, the airline operates a hub-and-spoke network, linking over 150 international destinations across Africa, Central Asia, Europe, Far East, South Asia, Middle East, North America, South America and Oceania from its base at Hamad International Airport, using a fleet of more than 160 aircraft.