DALLAS _ Qatar Airways is scrapping its plans to invest billions of dollars in American Airlines, the company said Wednesday.
Qatar's announcement brings an end to a bizarre six-week saga that saw the Middle Eastern airline make an unsolicited offer to acquire an up to 10 percent stake in American.
The Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier, however, had little interest in an investment from Qatar, with American's CEO Doug Parker calling the offer puzzling.
On Wednesday, Qatar said investing in American "no longer meets our objectives."
"Qatar Airways will continue to investigate alternative investment opportunities in the United States of America and elsewhere that do meet our objectives," the company said in a statement.
American said in a statement it "respects" Qatar's decision not to proceed with the investment.
"This in no way changes the course for American," the company said.
Qatar's proposal came against a backdrop of increasing tensions between American, other U.S. airlines and their counterparts in the Middle East.
U.S. airlines have accused Qatar, Emirates and Etihad Airways of receiving billions of dollars in unfair subsidies from their governments, with the U.S. carriers lobbying the Trump administration to intervene.
The Middle East carriers have denied receiving unfair subsidies.
