Qatar Airways celebrates its continuous growth in 2017

The airline said that despite a challenging regional environment, it continued to deliver beyond expectations throughout 2017, accelerating new routes, doubling frequencies and capacity to numerous destinations and launching its award-winning new Business Class seat, Qsuite. At a time when many airlines are scaling back, Qatar Airways continued to thrive, showcasing to the world its award-winning, best-in-class cabins, catering, in-flight entertainment, on-board magazine, lounges and more.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive,. Akbar Al Baker, said: “This year, our twentieth anniversary as an airline, is particularly special for us. As we reflect on our achievements, we reaffirm our commitment to providing excellence in the skies, ensuring that our passenger’s holiday or leisure trip starts the moment they step onto one of our aircraft. We remain committed to expanding our global network, and to taking our passengers anywhere in the world they wish to go.”

“After twenty years of service, we vow to never rest on our achievements, but rather to focus on how we can continue to innovate, and to deliver an exceptional five-star experience to every one of our passengers, no matter what class they travel. Against the backdrop of the illegal blockade against the State of Qatar, we are more committed than ever to welcoming everyone onboard and taking them wherever they need to go.”

Route Expansion

Qatar Airways launched 11 new destinations in 2017, including Auckland, New Zealand – the world’s longest commercial flight - Nice; France; Dublin, Republic of Ireland; Skopje; Sohar, Oman; Kyiv, Ukraine; Prague, Czech Republic, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Adana, Turkey; Chiang Mai, Thailand and St. Petersburg, Russia. 

In addition to launching flights to Chiang Mai, its fourth destination in Thailand, the airline also introduced a fifth daily non-stop service to Bangkok as well as a daily service to Krabi, offering both business and leisure travellers even more convenience and flexibility when travelling to and from the Land of Smiles. In January 2018, it will commence service to Pattaya, the airline’s fifth Thai destination.

Qatar Airways will also add a new direct daily service to Hanoi, withHo Chi Minh City’s daily service increasing by three flights a week to 10 starting 1 January 2018.

The airline introduced its superjumbo A380 aircraft to Melbourne and will soon introduce it on its Perth route, enhancing capacity to Australia ahead of the airline’s launch of service to Canberra in 2018. Qatar Airways also proudly became the first airline ever to fly the state-of-the-art Airbus A350 to the Maldives twice daily.

Qatar Airways also doubled its frequencies to a number of destinations in Eastern Europe, the Nordics and Russia, following a significant increase in passenger demand to the popular destinations of Warsaw, Helsinki, and Moscow, with increases to Prague and Kyiv following just shortly after the launch of the routes themselves.

Qsuite 

Qatar Airways launched its new Business Class seat, Qsuite, at ITB Berlin in March 2017 to outstanding global acclaim, bringing a First Class experience to the Business Class cabin. The first aircraft fully-fitted with Qsuite was launched on the Doha-London route during the summer, and was soon followed by Paris and most recently New York, with Washington soon to follow. Qsuite, a patented Qatar Airways product, is already fast collecting awards for offering the industry’s first-ever double bed in Business Class. Adjustable panels and movable TV monitors allow colleagues, friends or families travelling together to transform their space into a private suite, allowing them to work, dine and socialise together. 

Award Wins 

Qatar Airways enjoyed a record-breaking year in 2017, with the airline claiming more global awards than ever before in its 20th year of operations. Qatar’s national carrier received more than 50 individual awards across multiple categories since January, demonstrating its continued commitment to exceeding passenger expectations with its innovative approach to product development and dedication to customer experience. 

Al Baker, received the ‘Aviation Executive of the Year’ award from industry body CAPA last month, highlighting his leadership and innovative direction in guiding the growth of the airline and the wider aviation industry as a whole.

Al Baker was also elected Chairman of the Board of Governors of prestigious global aviation industry body International Air Transport Association (IATA), effective June 2018. The rotating one-year term will commence at the end of IATA’s 2018 Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Sydney and will continue until the end of its 2019 AGM. 

Delivery

Qatar Airways took delivery of 19 new aircraft in 2017, taking its total fleet to 212 aircraft. Cargo 

Qatar Airways Cargo took delivery of two new Boeing 747-800 freighters and its thirteenth Boeing 777 freighter this year, continuing its trajectory of rapid growth and expansion.