(RNN) – If you say something that’s immediately met with audible groans, chances are it probably would have best been left unsaid.
In Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker’s case, out and out saying a woman couldn’t possibly run his airline qualifies.
The executive apologized late Tuesday after the foot-in-mouth statement, which he said on Monday at an industry conference in Australia. He claimed afterward it was a joke.
During a panel at the conference, Al Baker said of his airline and its leadership: “Of course it has to be led by a man, because it is a very challenging position.”
The New York Times reported the comment was met with groans. He later told Bloomberg it was “just a joke.”
“Everybody laughed,” he said. “I thought that was the end of the story.”
They didn’t, according to various accounts, and it wasn’t.
Al Baker issued a longer apology on Tuesday night, posted to Qatar Airways’ Twitter account. The apology argued the issue had been “sensationalized by the media.”
H.E Mr. Akbar Al Baker: I would like to offer my heartfelt apologies for any offence caused by my comment yesterday, which runs counter to my track record of expanding the role of women in leadership throughout the Qatar Airways Group and has been sensationalised by the media. pic.twitter.com/M07Wczk08B
— Qatar Airways (@qatarairways) June 5, 2018
“I would like to offer my heartfelt apologies for any offense caused by my comment yesterday, which runs counter to my track record of expanding the role of women in leadership throughout the Qatar Airways Group and has been sensationalized by the media,” it said.
The statement noted that women comprise 44 percent of the Qatar Airways workforce, and praised the “dedication, drive and skill they bring to their jobs.”
“No role is too tough for them, at all levels of the organization,” Al Baker said.
It went on to say “our airline has been a pioneer in our region” in terms of promoting women into leadership.
“Qatar Airways is made stronger by its female employees for whom I hold nothing but the highest regard,” he said.
Al Baker became chairman of the board of governors for the International Air Transport Association at the conference, which it held in Sydney.
The 56-year-old Qatari, who was educated in India, has previously caused controversy with sexist statements.
Last year he derided U.S. airline companies for having “grandmother” flight attendants, and boasted that the average age of his flight crew was 26.
He later called those remarks “careless.”
Qatar Airways also faced criticism in 2015 for a policy that barred flight crew from getting married or pregnant.
In that instance, Al Baker accused the United Nations' International Labor Organization, which found the airline discriminated against its women flight crew, of a “vendetta.”
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