Qatar Airways needs to first work out who its competitors are

Companies that want to succeed in a competitive market need focus more than anything else. Do one thing very well and you will make money. Perhaps even a lot of money. Do many things in a mediocre way and you will go bust – or at least have to be supported by a friendly government or billionaire.

So, I was concerned last week by the comments of Akbar Al Baker, Chief Executive of Qatar Airways, at the Paris Air Show. Qatar wants to challenge Emirates and Etihad as a high-quality international carrier but it also wants to build a large regional network and now a low-cost network.

"If we need to, we are ready to join the fashion show and will most definitely get into the low-cost market," said Al Baker.

"In fact, we have quietly tested it already on a few routes – now it's ready to go as soon as I press the button. So we tell those airlines in the region, be wary. Do not intrude into our market with their crap product because we are prepared to respond with the same crap yields as them."

Most of the world's international carriers struggle to operate profitable regional networks let alone running a low-cost one as well so I'm highly sceptical about Qatar's ambition.

Low-cost carriers have a culture and focus that allows them to be successful and it is completely different to the focus needed to run transcontinental services.

If Qatar plans to simply cut prices on its normal regional network in order to compete with carriers such as flydubai, it will lose a lot of money.

Qatar needs to work out who it is competing against and focus on that challenge alone.