Qatar Airways positioned to maintain their global expansion and growth
Qatar Airways is the first of the three major airlines based in the Gulf to sign for any of the global airline alliances, by joining oneworld, with British Airways serving as its sponsor. It is also the second largest full service airline in the world not, until today, aligned to one of big global airline alliances.
Qatar Airways will substantially strengthen oneworld’s customer offering by providing routing alternatives across many hundreds of city pairs. For example, passengers flying between Asia and Southern Europe or between Asia and Africa will now have convenient one-stop connections not previously available within the oneworld network.
In just 15 years of operations, CEO, Akbar Al Baker, has taken Qatar Airways from a barely-regional 
player with four leased jets to the global stage, to a solid international route network, serving 120 destinations in 70 countries around the world to key business and leisure destinations worldwide. Currently, Qatar Airways operates one of the world’s youngest and most modern fleets, standing at 111 Boeing and Airbus aircraft with an average age of just four years old, with five new Boeing 787 to be delivered this year, and another US$50 billion worth of orders on the books for more than 250 Boeing and Airbus aircraft.
On a recent flight from Paris to Doha on an Airbus A346, this writer had the opportunity to experience Qatar’s business class service, which they call "5-star luxury in the sky". It was indeed quite excellent. In the air, the cabin combined comfort, spaciousness, top service, latest technology and of course, fine dining, and wines. For our connection in Doha, Qatar’s massive Premium Terminal, with its own duty free shops, for business and first class passengers, provided a wide choice of food and drinks. It was obvious, business is good for Qatar, while spacious, it was full.
The carrier is set to move into a brand new home in 2013 with the opening of the New Doha International Airport, designed to accommodate their growth and strengthen their position as a premium global hub with an eventual capacity for 50 million passengers a year, including a new Premium Terminal.
The new aircraft, terminal, and membership in oneworld, will certainly help Qatar maintain the 
countless awards for high service levels, including the Five Star accolade given by Skytrax, they strive for.
Qatar Airways is 50 per cent owned by the rich State of Qatar, with the other 50 per cent by private shareholders. In 2011, Qatar boarded 15 million passengers, generating group revenues of US$ 6.4 billion.
By: Charles Kao
Charles Kao
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