Saudi Arabia Buys Stake In London Heathrow Airport

I do wonder what they get that's of the most tangible value, in these stakes: first dibs at new slots? A say in how their specific terminals are configured/run?

Saudi Arabia - 10%; Qatar - 20%, China - 10%, so 40% in total owned by these three?

@ simmonad -- Whoops, I'm sorry, not sure what I was thinking. Fixed.

Boycott if you don't agree with their governments, but rescind the boycott if they have a great business / first class product with easily bookable saver awards and a loyalty program that doesn't devalue its redemptions 😉

Buy electric cars & trucks and never look back.

Ben, since you mentioned the 'ethical consumption' of products and services from regions considered 'corrupt' or 'uncivilized' in the global South, it's crucial to maintain a balanced perspective. It's important to acknowledge that many European corporations have foundations rooted in the legacies of colonialism, neo-colonialism, and the exploitation of the global South's population and resources. This includes numerous atrocities committed along the way. To be fair, those advocating for a boycott of airlines such as Qatar Airways or companies owned by China, solely based on the grounds that they may not uphold certain 'western' values, are either naive or driven by prejudice, to say the least.

Buy electric cars as long as you have a personal source of electricity, i.e. solar.

🙂

100%
Watching the self described "ethically responsible" mob constantly getting tripped up by their hypocrisy and/or ignorance of historical fact is one of the joys of life today.

Buy electric cars and don't worry about the dubious ways the battery materials are obtained.

Life is full of compromises, you cannot be an absolutist

NATIONAL DISGRACE.

This is clearly a way for them to get first dibs at slots for Riyadh Air.

Some people here are overestimating the potential benefit of owning parts of LHR - esp. since there are 3 countries - each w/ their own agendas - involved. In reality, LHR has to follow its own slot rules which are tied to bilateral aviation agreements. Given that LHR is a major destination for scores of airlines, no country and esp. not 3, will gain any meaningful benefit.
The bigger issue is that more and more countries are divesting and privatizing valuable infrastructure and, when you have open capital markets, investors from other countries will invest.

Maybe the Saudi fund could spend a few riyals dressing up the gates in T3 (Delta, Virgin). Most date back to the late 70’s and look it.
Could have sworn I saw the ghost of Margret Thatcher at the controls of the Concord rolling down the tarmac chasing Labor party MPs.

First of all, 10% is hardly a significant stake that gives management control to PIF.

Secondly, this only continues the long tradition of the UK being sold to the highest bidder by its own people. For example, significant chunks of prime Central London areas are already owned by others - more than a third of Mayfair is owned by Qatar citizens, Knightsbridge by Saudi Arabian and UAE citizens, Chelsea by Russian citizens. DP World owns two key deep water ports and the associated freight & transport infrastructure. Most of the country's electric utilities and railway service companies are owned by European companies. LGW is 51% owned by Vinci, a French company with the other 49% divided between Abu Dhabi and Australia's sovereign funds, and two pension funds from Korea and California.

I rest my case for not treating this transaction as anything special. I live in London, by the way.

It's absurd that critical infrastructure, especially an airport as vital as Heathrow (most important airport in the world??), is held in the hands of private investment funds rather than the public. Even the U.S. hasn't bothered to privatize its airports.

It simply shouldnt be allowed for one of the worlds primary airports to basically be owned by china and the middle east (and um canadas pension fund lol)

You seem to be missing the key point tho.

'foundations rooted in', 'legacies', 'exploitation'.. ie things in the past. That doesnt give a free pass to regressive nations to be allowed to get away with it now.

So because something happened 100 years ago that makes it okay for a country to act like it today? Nonsense.

Maybe this is just a strategy to get some slots for Riyadh Air.

Hilarious!!!!

"Concorde"

Rule Britannia!
Britannia rules the waves!
Never ever ever shall we be slaves!
(Except if they're arab or chinese)
Remember when Britain used to be feared and respect? Now it's a total joke of a country.
It's like if America and Colombia owned Beijing Capital Airport

So as a Spaniard I should get reparations from Muslim countries for owning my homeland for 700 years?