Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad International) has now been officially confirmed as the latest Oneworld member at a press conference in New York City. Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al-Baker had recently denied rumours about a pending announcement several times but the carrier is now expected to be joining the alliance within 12 to 18 months after all of the necessary preparation tasks have been completed. All large Gulf carriers are now cooperating with oneworld members with Etihad Airways (EY, Abu Dhabi International) being the majority shareholder of Air Berlin (1991) (Berlin Tegel) and Emirates (EK, Dubai International) having recently announced a joint venture with Qantas (QF, Sydney Kingsford Smith).