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Qatar Airways will sell its stake in Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways in a share buyback valued at $896 million, the companies announced, ending the Qatari carrier's eight-year involvement with the airline. The announcement came late Wednesday in a stock market filing by Cathay Pacific, which saw its shares gain 4.2% on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday. Under the agreement, Qatar Airways will sell all of its holdings, which represent 9.57% of Cathay Pacific stock. The airline's other major shareholders are Swire Pacific and Air China. The plan is subject to shareholder approval. The buy-back reflects our strong confidence in the future of the Cathay Group and underscores our commitment to the development of the Hong Kong international aviation hub," Cathay Group chairman Patrick Healy said in a statement announcing the sale. Qatar Airways, a state-owned airline flying out of the sprawling Hamad International Airport in Doha, did not acknowledge the sale itself. Howeve
Qatar Airways said Thursday it earned a profit of USD 1.2 billion over the last fiscal year, boosted in part by the small Arabian Peninsula country's hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Qatar Airways, like other carriers in Gulf Arab nations, relies on the country's location to ferry passengers between the East and West. Its earned revenue of USD 20.9 billion over the year is up from USD 14.4 billion the year before. Those figures stand in contrast to the USD 4.1 billion loss it suffered in the 2021 fiscal year amid the coronavirus pandemic and the grounding of its fleet. Qatar Airways' profit of USD 1.2 billion is down slightly from USD 1.5 billion last fiscal year. Part of that came from a spike in operating expenses, particularly in jet fuels as energy prices rose after the grip of the pandemic loosened and air travel resumed. Qatar Airways received a USD 3 billion infusion from the government during the pandemic to keep it afloat. As the global travel industry continued its ..