Qatar has no plans to sell its stake in Gulf Air even as its national carrier, Qatar Airways, is planning to add Kuala Lumpur, Maldives, and Jakarta as new destinations in December, according to Qatar Airways officials.

Refuting reports that Oman and Qatar could possibly sell their stakes in Gulf Air, Ali Al Rais, Qatar Airways' regional manager for Gulf and Pakistan, said, "The Qatari government wants to maintain its investments in Gulf Air and there are no plans for such a move. It is feasible for all to keep their stake in the carrier. Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Abu Dhabi each have 25 per cent stake in Gulf Air."

Al Rais said Qatar Airways' first flight to Mali in Maldives was scheduled for December 11 and those to Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta will start on December 17 and 20, respectively. There will be three flights a week to these destinations.

The new routes are part of a plan to expand the airline's service. It has no plan to cut expenditure or employees due to the crisis in the global airline industry after September 11. "We cannot cut down on cost and employees because we are expanding. We are adding three routes in a month. It is important for us to re-invest profits in our expansion," Al Rais said.

Qatar Airways is also seriously studying buying more Airbus A380s. Plans to raise the fleet from 11 coincide with the recent expansion of Doha International Airport, by three times its previous size.

Qatar Airways' Airbus A319 also started flying to destinations following its participation at the air show, said Al Rais. The airline, he added, had placed orders for ten A320s, scheduled for delivery between 2001 and 2005, three A330-200s on option and another three to be delivered in April 2002, besides two A380s with two on option.

Al Rais does not agree that the presence of too many GCC national carriers could ignite competition in an extremely small area. "Qatar Airways does not serve the GCC only. This destination only represent 1 per cent of its business.

"We all compete on some destinations and business peaks on some destinations. But the Gulf is becoming more and more important to the world." Al Rais said Qatar Airways had no plans to invest in hotels. "We plan to maintain our core businesses and outsource."

Qatar Airways also has no plans to do groundhandling of other airports like Emirates. "We compete with Emirates in terms of marketing and sales but we enjoy a very strong relationship. We negotiate insurance rates, fuel and spare parts as a group."

Al Rais said Qatar Airways had six subsidiaries, including those for ground handling, alcohol distribution, catering unit and a duty free joint venture with Ariana.