Qatar Airways sees profit by 2010, eyes share sale

DOHA (Reuters) - State-owned Qatar Airways expects to make its first profit by 2010 and could sell shares to local and foreign investors three years after that, the company's chief executive said on Sunday.

The rapidly expanding carrier signed a deal on May 30 to buy 80 A350XWB aircraft from European planemarker Airbus (EAD.PA) with a total list price of $16 billion.

"We will be privatized in the first half of the next decade and the IPO will be offered to local and international companies," Akbar al-Baker told Reuters.

The IPO will not exceed 49 percent of the company's stock, so existing agreements between Qatar and other countries would not be compromised, said Baker, adding that he expected the airline to hit a profit by 2010 to 2011.

"We should be able to go to an IPO by the time of the delivery of the A350s," he said.

Qatar Airways is the largest all-Airbus operator in the Middle East and is a customer of the A380 superjumbo. Last week, it added an additional 20 A350 aircraft to an existing order of 60.

"The first deal was about $13 billion and now with the 20 A350-1000s, it will rise to just over $16 billion," Baker said.

The airline has a fleet of 57 with total orders of 120 aircraft, but Baker did not rule out further adding to the fleet. "We will wait and see how things evolve," he said.

The airline, which flies to 75 cities, plans to reach 110 destinations early next decade. It is launching nine new destinations this year, including four weekly services to Newark and daily services to Washington D.C. this summer.