Qatar Airways

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Qatar Airways
IATA QR	ICAO QTR	Callsign QATARI
Founded		1993
Hubs		Doha International Airport
Frequent flyer program		Qatar Airways Privilege Club - Qmiles
Fleet size		52
Destinations		70
Parent company		Qatar Airways Group
Headquarters		Doha, Qatar
Key people		Akbar Al Baker (CEO)
Website: http://www.qatarairways.com

Qatar Airways (Arabic: القطرية) is an airline based in Doha, Qatar. It operates a hub and spoke network based on Doha, linking 70 international destinations. Its main base is Doha International Airport (DOH). It is among the fastest growing airlines and one of the four airlines that have gained the "five star airline" status from Skytrax. Qatar Airways is a member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization.

[edit] History

Qatar Airways Airbus A330-200

The airline was established on 22 November 1993 and started operations on 20 January 1994. It was originally owned by members of the state's royal family but was relaunched in April 1997 by a new management team headed by Akbar Al Baker (Chief Executive). The airline is owned by the government of Qatar (50%) and private investors (50%).

Qatar Airways Privilege Club is the airlines Frequent Flyer Programme with the highest earn rate in the world. Qatar Airways is one of only four airlines that have achieved the five star status by an independent airline evaluation firm, Skytrax.

Qatar Airways is the official airline for the 2006 Asian Games being held in Doha, Qatar on 1-15 December 2006.

New Livery

Qatar Airways introduced a new livery for their planes in 2006. The first aircraft in the livery was an A340-600. The livery was launched at ITB Berlin in March 2006, featuring the word "QATAR" emblazoned across the fuselage in burgundy, with the fin painted with the image of an oryx (the national animal and icon of Qatar). The livery was designed by Australian Marketing company Performa Global.

Qatar Airways was the launch customer of the new Airbus A340-600HGW, showing the new Qatar Airways Livery

[edit] Services

See full article: Qatar Airways destinations

Service to Hong Kong was launched in March 2006.

In November 2006, the airline announced 7 routes to be launched in 2007. These are: Lagos (Nigeria), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Denpasar (Bali, Indonesia), Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) and New York (USA). Two other routes to Europe will also be launched in 2007, these are expected to be either Copenhagen (Denmark), Glasgow (Scotland) or Stockholm (Sweden) and Warsaw (Poland).

The airline operates daily flights to Hong Kong using its Airbus A330-200 and three of the flights per week will be extended to Seoul, South Korea. The airline has added an additional weekly flight to Shanghai, bringing the number of flights to the Chinese commercial capital to four per week. Qatar Airways has increased its London Heathrow service from twice daily to three times daily since March 2006.

Qatar Airways recently announced that it plans to make its first entry into the North American market in late 2006 with direct non-stop scheduled flights to the United States using new A340-600 HGW aircraft. The airline CEO Akbar Al-Baker hinted at starting flights to Newark Liberty International Airport in the first quarter of 2007 following United States approval.

The airline has launched nonstop flights to Madrid, replacing the Rome-Madrid sector. The Doha-Berlin (TXL) flights will be upgraded to widebody aircraft instead of the A319LR with an increase in weekly frequency. Qatar Airways also hinted at direct Doha-Sao Paulo, Brazil flights starting sometime within the next 18 months. The airline recently added a sixth weekly flight to Osaka ahead of the Asian Games in Doha in December 2006, and has announced that services will be upgraded from the A330-200 to the A340-600 HGW.

Qatar Airways applied to the Australian Government to fly daily from Doha to Sydney and Melbourne but this was rejected in late May.

Frequencies set to be increased:

• Algiers - from 3 to 4 weekly flights
• Athens - from 5 to 7 weekly flights
• Bangkok - from 11 to 14 weekly flights, from June 2006,
• Berlin - upgrade of aircraft (A300-600)
• Cebu - changed to 3 times non-stop weekly service from the usual 1 stop service via Singapore
• Frankfurt - from 7 to 9 weekly flights (10 next winter),from an A300-600 to an A330-200 on June 2006.

• London Heathrow- from 14 to 21 weekly flights. It increased the frequency of flights Doha-London Heathrow from 2 to 3 a day with the addition of a new Airbus 330-300 flight departing Doha at 0750 and Heathrow at 1505.In addition, one of the other 2 flights will upgrade from an Airbus 330-300 to an Airbus 340-600 on August 2006 and the 3rd flight will upgrade from An Airbus 330 to an Airbus 340-600 five a week from September 2006. From delivery in 2009, the airlines new A380s will be used on this service.

• Madrid - flights via Rome-Fiumicino will now fly non-stop 3 weekly using A300-600 and A330-200.
• Manchester - from 4 to 7 weekly flights
• Osaka - from 5 to 6 weekly flights
• Paris - from 7 to 10 weekly flights (14 next winter)
• Tunis - from 3 to 4 weekly flights

It will upgrade equipment as follows :

• Daily Doha-Milan Malpensa: from an Airbus 300-600 to an Airbus 330-300 on August 2006. The flight is operated 4x a week on Monday/Wednesday/Friday/Sunday.
• Daily Doha-Moscow Domodedovo: from an Airbus 320 to an Airbus 300-600 on August 2006. The flight is operated 5 times a week on Monday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday/Sunday.

• It will increase the frequency on its Doha-Madrid route from 3 to 4 flights a week from November 1, 2006. It operates flights on Monday/Friday/Sunday and will add a Wednesday flight, all operated with Airbus 300-600R.

[edit] Fleet

The Qatar Airways fleet consists of the following aircraft (at October 2006):

Qatar Airways Airbus A340-600HGW

^{*Business Class is available on select Medium-Long Haul flights.}
In addition to the 2 Airbus A380, Qatar Airways has options on 2 more. It will start services with the A380 in 2009 to London (ref: Airliner World, March 2005). At the 2005 Paris Air Show, Qatar Airways ordered 60 Airbus A350s and 20 Boeing 777s. The airline has become the largest customer for the yet to be launched A350 and the first Middle East client. The A350 will be delivered in 2012 at the earliest. The Boeing 777s will be delivered between 2007 and 2010 (ref: Air International, July 2005). The average age of the Qatar Airways fleet is 5.5 years (at April 2006)

[edit] Incidents

• An Airbus 330-200 (Flight QR889) suffered a double engine flameout on approach into Shanghai on June 1, 2006 after a flight from Doha. Both engines were restarted and an emergency landing made at Pu Dong International. The aircraft, registered A7-ACJ, had just been delivered. See GE investigates double CF6-80 flame-out on Qatar A330-200 into Shanghai

[edit] Trivia

• The tail in Qatar Airways' livery features the head of a Qatari oryx nicknamed Orry. Since the fleet was repainted for the 2006 15th Asian Games, an animated Orry the Oryx was displayed on the tail of the A330-200.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Qatar Airways

• Qatar Airways
• Qatar Airways Fleet Age
• Qatar Airways Fleet Detail
• Qatar Airways Passenger Opinions