QATAR Airways is discussing the possibility of ordering more A380 Airbus superjumbo planes, the airlines chief executive Akbar Al-Baker said at the opening the new temporary arrivals terminal at Doha International airport. The airline also has five 555-seat double-decker planes on order and expects to order more, Al-Baker said. Qatar Airways, which hopes to carry 16 million passengers in the financial year ending March, is one of the world’s fasting growing airlines and has planes worth about $35 billion on order.
Qatar Airways also announced capacity increases to an array of destinations across its global network to be phased in from March 2011. Growing passenger demand and additional aircraft joining the fleet have prompted the capacity hike, part of the Doha-based airline’s aggressive expansion strategy to offer consumers more choice.
Expansion highlights include three additional weekly flights to Kuala Lumpur making it a double daily operation and two extra services deployed to the Tanzanian capital Dar Es Salaam, also taking frequency up to twice a day.
The daily Bengaluru (Bangalore) services to southern India will be upgraded from a narrow-body Airbus A320 aircraft to a wide-body A330, marking the first anniversary of the route’s launch. Flights in the Gulf will increase with three extra weekly services to the Omani capital Muscat with capacity rising to 24 flights each week.
In Europe, Qatar Airways is concentrating much of its expansion over the next two months with new route launches to Bucharest, Budapest, Brussels and Stuttgart, and has earmarked a number of capacity increases to and from existing destinations in its network. The double daily Paris route will rise to 16 weekly services with an extra two flights a week, while Geneva capacity will increase to daily following the introduction of two new weekly flights.
News of the European additions follows the recent announcement that Qatar Airways’ Copenhagen route will go daily with one extra flight a week, and the introduction of a wide body Airbus A330 on the daily Barcelona services.
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The airline introduced its flagship Boeing 777 aircraft for the first time in Spain, operating on the daily non-stop Doha – Madrid route. The Boeing 777-300 Extended Range aircraft, featuring 42 seats in business class and 293 in economy, offers more capacity than the Airbus A330s currently operating on the route.
Al-Baker said: “These capacity increases yet again demonstrate Qatar Airways’ commitment to building our route profiles in line with our strategy to offer passengers more travel options.
“With an average of more than one new aircraft being introduced into the fleet every month, Qatar Airways is looking to deploy the new capacity on existing routes while, at the same time launch new routes to join our ever-growing international network.”
The airline launches its 100th destination on April 6, 2011 with four flights a week to the Syrian city of Aleppo.
By 2013, Qatar Airways plans to serve 120 key business and leisure destinations worldwide with a modern fleet of 120 aircraft. Today, the airline has a fleet of 92 aircraft, with orders for 80 Airbus A350s, 60 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, 29 Boeing 777s, eight Airbus A321s and five Airbus A380-800 superjumbos. Al-Baker recently reiterated his faith in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner programme, stating there were no plans to cancel or change the order despite continued delays.
The airline is also expected to announce its initial public offering in 2012. “We have always said we will go in for an IPO once we register three consecutive years of profit. In the last financial year, we realised a net profit; this year also we are heading towards a net profit and continue to be hopeful in the next financial year as well,” Al-Baker explained.