Qatar has ditched its stake in the debt-laden airline Gulf Air.

Qatari officials said the Gulf state had decided that efforts to save the carrier from collapse were unlikely to succeed.

The carrier's three remaining owners - the governments of Bahrain, Oman and Abu Dhabi - will split Qatar's stake between them.

These three states have pledged to inject another $80m into the troubled airline immediately.

A succession of government bail-outs since 1997 have so far failed to put the company back on its feet, amid widespread reports of mismanagement.

Era of giants

Gulf Air was relatively successful until the mid 1990s when several national airlines - including Qatar Airways - began competing with it.

The downturn in air travel, together with high insurance costs, compounded the firm's troubles after 11 September.

"We hope Qatar's decision is not final," said Bahraini Information Minister Nail al-Hamr.

"This is an era of corporate giants, we would have wished to see more countries joining Gulf Air rather than seeing a partner pulling out."

New blood

The airline reported a loss of $132m last year.

Last month, Gulf Air appointed Australian James Hogan to take over as president and chief executive from Bahraini Ibrahim Al-Hamer.

Mr Hogan previously presided over Australia's Ansett Airlines, which collapsed last September.

He is charged with drawing up a plan to rebuild the airline's finances by August.

The airline has 32 planes and flies to nearly 50 destinations in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and north Africa.