Qatar Airways’ stock price rose as much as 3.5 per cent on Wednesday after the company raised the price of its Airbus A320neo from Qatari investors.
The airline said it had received an additional order of up to 8 million Qatari dinars ($1.6 million) from Airbus.
Qatar Airways said its stock price would be stable as the price increase was not due to any adverse effect on the airline’s operations.
But the stock price is now trading at less than $2 a share, below its $17.80 ($10.30) IPO price.
Qatari airline, QATAS, said the airline had increased the price on its Airbus aircraft by a maximum of 3 per cent from March 1 to March 8.
This will enable the airline to increase the value of its shares to an amount equal to 30 per cent of its market value, it said in a statement.
The increase was a result of a significant price increase in March 2015 by the Qatari government in the wake of the financial crisis.
The government imposed capital controls and imposed an asset freeze on all Qatari residents.
It imposed a total of 14,000 cash seizures and imposed a 1.7 per cent tax on the value and proceeds of all financial transactions, it added.
QATES shares closed at $2.27, up about 3 per of their value on Wednesday, at the latest.
The stock is up over 5 per cent in the last month.
Qatar’s largest airlines, Qatar Air and Qatar Airways, have been hit hard by the economic crisis and political instability in the Middle East and North Africa region, with some carriers now struggling to cope with the growing demand for their products.
Qatar has had to pay compensation to the families of victims of the 2009 Gulf War and the 2010 Arab Spring revolts.
Qatar Airlines’ stock is down 8 per cent this year.