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Qatar Airways 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 5 airlines that have gained the "five star airline" status from Skytrax.
Qatar Airways is a member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization.
Code Data
IATA Code: QR
ICAO Code: QTR
History
Qatar Airways Airbus A330-200The 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 the 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 held in Doha, Qatar on 1-15 December 2006.
Destinations
See full article: Qatar Airways destinations
Services
The latest addition on the airline's network is Hong Kong, which was launched on March 26 2006. Nagpur will also be added, bringing the number of destinations to India served by the airline to six.
The airline operates daily flights to Hong Kong 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 26, 2006.
Qatar Airways recently announced that it plans to make its first foray into the North American market in late 2006 with direct non-stop scheduled flights to the United States using new A340-600 HGW aircraft. Moreever, the airline announced a new livery change which would be introduced to the A340-600 HGW aircraft and gradually applied to the existing fleet over a period of 12 months.
The airline has recently announced that they will increase frequencies to several destinations and has already launched nonstop flights to Madrid, replacing the Rome-Madrid sector. The Doha-Berlin (TXL) flights will soon be upgraded to widebody aircraft instead of the current A319LR with an increase in weekly frequency.
Destinations set to be increased in terms of frequencies:
Algiers - Increase from 3 to 4 weekly flights
Athens - Increase from 5 to 7 weekly flights
Bangkok - Increase from 11 to 14 weekly flights
Berlin- Increase in frequency (unspecified) using widebody aircraft
Frankfurt - Increase from 7 to 9 weekly flights (10 next winter)
London Heathrow- Increase from 14 to 21 weekly flights
Madrid - Flights via FCO will now fly non-stop 3 weekly
Manchester - Increase from 4 to 7 weekly flights
Osaka - Increase from 4 to 5 weekly flights (6 next winter)
Paris - Increase from 7 to 10 weekly flights (14 next winter)
Tunis - Increase from 3 to 4 weekly flights
Fleet
Current Fleet
The Qatar Airways fleet consists of the following aircraft (at March 2006):
9 Airbus A300-600R
1 Airbus A300-600RF
1 Airbus A310-300
2 Airbus A319-100LR
1 Airbus A319-100CJ
11 Airbus A320-200
2 Airbus A321-200
14 Airbus A330-200 (further 2 on order)
6 Airbus A330-300 (further 2 on order)
1 Airbus A340-200
Ordered Aircraft
2 Airbus A330-200
2 Airbus A330-300
4 Airbus A340-600
60 Airbus A350
2 Airbus A380
20 Boeing 777
Qatar Airways also has orders for 4 Airbus A340-600 High Gross Weight (HGW) aircraft. The new livery of Qatar Airways will be unveiled on this batch of aircraft.
Qatar Airways has ordered 2 Airbus A380 aircraft and has options on 2 more. It plans to start services with the A380 in 2009 on its route to London (ref: Airliner World, March 2005).
At the 2005 Paris Air Show, Qatar Airways ordered 60 Airbus A350's and 20 Boeing 777s for a combined total of $15.2 billion. Qatar Airways has become the largest customer to date for the yet to be launched A350 and the first Middle East client. The first A350 will be delivered in 2010, with all 60 aircraft in service by 2015. 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)
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatar_Airways
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