MOSCOW: Qatar Airways plans to buy a 25 percent stake in Vnukovo Airport, the third-largest in the Moscow area by passenger numbers, which is located near the Russian capital, the Interfax news agency quoted the airline's Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker as saying on Monday.
A Qatar Airways spokeswoman told Reuters the airline had signed a memorandum of understanding to buy the minority stake and that it now had eight weeks to finalise the transaction.
No financial details were released.
The airport is co-owned by the Russian state, which has a blocking stake, and Russian businessman Vitaly Vantsev and his partners.
Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, owns a 20 percent stake in London's Heathrow airport.
The Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani is on a visit to Moscow where he will met the Russian President Vladimir Putin and the two leaders exchanged views and ideas on various regional issues,
It is the first visit of a leader to Moscow after the victory of Russian President Vladimir Putin for a new presidential term. The visit also emphasizes the strength of Qatari-Russian relations.
The Emir and Putin discussed ways to strengthen the bilateral cooperation relations between the two countries in several fields, including defence, energy, economy, investment, trade exchange and scientific research, as well as means to boost cooperation in the organization of the World Cup and the exchange of expertize, especially as Russia will host it in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.
The Emir and Russian President discussed various regional and international issues of common interest.
Meanwhile Qatar Airways has been named the “Best Regional Middle East/Africa Airline” by the Money magazine’s 2018 “Best in Travel” awards for the second consecutive year.
The Money magazine annual “Best in Travel” awards are presented to companies that demonstrate exemplary quality of service and receive high praise from customers in overall value.
