Akbar Al Baker making a return?
A wild rumour, but why not?
In a recent flightradar24 AvTalk podcast (one of my favourite podcasts), hosts Jason and Ian mentioned that Lufthansa may need a new CEO. A wild suggestion was Akbar Al Baker, who was apparently seen roaming AIX in Hamburg. Now, this is pure speculation, in fact nobody is even sure whether Akbar was actually at AIX. But I thought it would be pretty fun to analyse how he would do as a Lufthansa CEO.
For those who don’t know, Al Baker was the CEO of Qatar Airways. Or a rather controversial one. His antics ranged from threatening manufacturers with aircraft paint issues to rather questionable human rights practices with his cabin crew. Either way whether these accusations are true or not, one cannot deny that he grew Qatar Airways into a global powerhouse of an airline it is today. For example, their business class product called QSuite, is still considered one of the very best business class seats in the world. Its base at Hamad International Airport in Doha boasts some of the world’s most impressive airline lounges owned by Qatar Airways.
I have a rather special relationship with Qatar Airways. Back in 2022 in the middle of Covid I had a family emergency I needed to attend to in South Africa. With all flights being down, Qatar Airways was the only available option I had. After I flew them, I was hooked and realised I could obtain airline status very quickly with them as well. As a result, they are the airline that gave me my first ever (and thus far only) business class experience when I upgraded with miles. I was spoiled and I could finally see what all the hype was about. So whether or not all the accusations against Al Baker are true or not, from an experiential standpoint, I can certainly say that he transformed Qatar Airways into a very strong airline worldwide.
Now how about Lufthansa? Would he be a good fit? If he were to become the next CEO at Lufthansa, it would certainly be an adjustment for him.
Al Baker has made it very clear he is against the idea of a premium economy cabin. Whereas the likes of Emirates have fully embraced the product, he stated publicly that he will not install a premium economy class into the airline. Lufthansa on the other hand has lots of premium economy seats, and not just Lufthansa only but also all the airlines in its group. It would not make economic sense if he were to remove all the premium economy class seats, a product which Lufthansa and its group airlines have invested heavily in already. But how would he utilize the product should he inherit it? He may have to adjust to it.
Talking about the airline group, Al Baker doesn’t have the best history when it comes to airline groups. If he were to lead Lufthansa, an airline which has operated within the Lufthansa group consisting of many European airlines, he’d have his work cut out. He’d have to liaise with not only Lufthansa, but also its entire portfolio of airlines which include Austrian, Swiss, Eurowings, Discover, Edelweiss, and now also ITA Airways.
Sure, it has invested in airlines such as Cathay Pacific, but when it comes to running airlines as a group his track record is a bit more muddied. For example, there was the case of Al Maha, the failed start up that was meant to feature a green oryx instead of burgundy, which was due to operate in Saudi Arabia. But when Qatar Airways joined the oneworld alliance in 2013, Al Baker also had frequent spats with fellow alliance members, often threatening to quit. While his disputes were often within reason, a public dispute doesn’t look very good in terms of PR.
And finally, also the point that led to this speculation on the podcast, is that while Al Baker was serving at Qatar, he had some questionable labor rights practices, especially among the cabin crew. There were reports of discrimination and surveillance among crew members. While he defended this as “cultural norms”, similar practices will not fly in Europe, especially with Lufthansa struggling with labor unions and strikes. Al Baker would have to find another way to deal with labor practices. He may have been able to enforce a “my way or the highway” leadership style in the Middle East, but as we have seen in the news recently, this would lead to full on airport or airline shutdown resulting from union strikes. He would have to tread more carefully if he were to operate an European airline.
And an airline based it Europe is also another ball game. Qatar Airways is famous for offering a full service meal on its regional flights, one might even be lucky to get a long haul QSuite product on a short 30 minute flight. But with European airlines saving on regional flights (blocked middle economy seat for Euro business anyone?), I don’t think he would accept the reality thereof that easily. Again, he could decide to change it up, but with Lufthansa having such an established network already, it may not make financial sense to revamp the business model completely.
But talking about operating in Europe, in Qatar Al Baker also had the task of answering to the Qatari government: using an airline to put Qatar on the map. But Lufthansa is not a state-owned airline that receives massive cash-injections from oil rich governments. It has to answer to stakeholders who demand profit margins. In Germany, under the Mitbestimmung (co-determination) law, labor union representatives actually make up 50% of the Supervisory Board. The very unions Al Baker historically fights would literally be his bosses.
Despite these massive cultural and structural hurdles, this environment is also precisely why he would be a good fit. Where he essentially built Qatar Airways from the ground up, this has already been done at Lufthansa. Instead of focusing on development, he could focus his energy on efficiency and streamlining operations. With the sheer amount of subsidiaries Lufthansa owns, he could very easily slim them down.
Although he had Airbus issues at Qatar, being headquartered in Europe would give him access to Airbus factories and facilities fairly easily. While he’s known for being picky about aircraft and how he wants them delivered, being in the middle of action, right at the manufacturing, would cut the lead times and facilitate easy communication with aircraft manufacturers. This would also suit his aggressive growth leadership style and achieve results much quicker.
And that is why, despite his history, ironically he would be a good fit at Lufthansa. Al Baker, though controversial, is famous for one thing, he gets the job done. While there was no official reason for him leaving Qatar, I speculate that there was something he wanted done and couldn’t get done, so he stepped down to possibly save face. But while it may look like an uphill battle at Lufthansa, I think he may be great and exactly what the airline needs right now.