Qatar Airways’ outspoken CEO Akbar Al Baker has joined the board of Heathrow’s holding company.
Al Baker and Ali Bouzarif, from Qatar Investment Authority, have both been appointed as non-executive directors of Heathrow Airport Holdings, formerly known as BAA, according to filings at Companies House.
The two Qatari directors have taken their seats on Heathrow’s board following the Gulf state’s sovereign wealth fund Qatar Holding’s purchase of 20 per cent of BAA for £900 million last year.
Al Baker has previously criticised the UK government for its failure to increase hub capacity with Heathrow “bursting at the seams”.
Heathrow Airport Holdings, which changed its name from BAA in September 2012, also owns Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton. The company has sold Stansted to Manchester Airports Group for £1.5 billion last month and Edinburgh to Gatwick’s owner Global Infrastructure Partners for £807.2 million last year.
China Investment Corporation, the investment arm of the Chinese government also purchased a 10 per cent stake in Heathrow Airport Holdings for £450 million in November, while Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC also owns 11.88 per cent of the company.
Spanish infrastructure group Ferrovial remains the biggest shareholder although its stake has been reduced to 33.65 per cent. Ferrovial was part of the consortium which purchased BAA for £10.3 billion in 2006 – less than half of the company’s current value.