Qatar Airways has raised its stake in British Airways owner International Airlines Group (IAG) to under 12 percent from 9.99 percent, chief executive Akbar Al-Baker said on Wednesday, without specifying the exact size of its holding or when it had increased it.

Qatar Airways bought a 9.99 percent stake in IAG, which also owns Iberia, in January 2015. Al-Baker said at the time that Qatar would like to raise its stake.

Speaking at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai, he also said Qatar Airways has seen some issues with the A350 and that it was putting pressure on planemaker Airbus to resolve the problems.

"We have some issues with the A350, which was expected because it's a new programme. However, we feel that Airbus is losing steam in resolving these problems with the A350," Al-Baker said.

When asked what issues Qatar Airways had with the A350, he declined to comment, other than to say they related to the supply chain.

Deliveries of A350s are being delayed due to shortages of cabin equipment, sources told Reuters earlier this month.

The comments come after Al-Baker had earlier this week also voiced criticism over the latest variant of the A320 narrowbody jet.

A spokesman for Airbus said it had no comment ahead of the group's quarterly results on Thursday. - Reuters