QATAR Airways celebrated yet another historic milestone as its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner landed on home turf in Doha greeted by hundreds of cheering onlookers.
Qatar Airways is the region’s 787 launch customer with 60 aircraft on order for delivery in phases over the next few years.
Chief executive officer Akbar Al Baker, who was on board the delivery flight, was joined by almost 100 passengers privileged to be on the maiden 13-hour journey direct from Seattle. The 787 will be deployed long-haul on one of the airlines five daily London Heathrow services.
As more 787s join the fleet over the next few weeks, the aircraft will be inducted on other long-haul routes including Zurich, Frankfurt and Delhi.
Upon arrival in Doha, Al Baker hosted a press conference at which he spoke of his pride and joy on behalf of Qatar Airways of the world’s most advanced passenger aircraft joining the airline’s rapidly growing fleet that now totals 112 jetliners.
“This truly is an historic moment for our country, our people and our airline and on behalf of Qatar Airways, a great privilege to be standing here having flown our newest aircraft,” he said.
Al Baker credited the development of Qatar Airways into the world’s best airline to the vision of The Emir of Qatar, HH Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, and outlined the role the new 787s would play in the fulfilment of that vision:
“Through the inspired vision of our country’s leader The Emir, Qatar Airways has rapidly evolved into a world-class international airline that has set new standards in service and excellence mirroring the country’s ambitions, aggressive growth and rapid development.
“The 787s are next generation aircraft that allow us to maximise long-haul route opportunities with greater fuel and cost efficiency and, importantly offer our passengers a different travel experience with new levels of space and comfort.”
Boeing commercial vice-president international sales Middle East, Marty Bentrott, said: “Boeing and Qatar Airways once again demonstrate a close working partnership between the two companies that is clearly reflected in the 787 programme.
“This aircraft has already shifted the goalposts in the industry in terms of comfort and operating efficiency and I am delighted to see Qatar Airways will continue to live up to its high service standards with their new 787s and continue to be an industry leader promoting excellence in everything it does.”
Qatar Airways’ Dreamliners is the world’s first fully connected 787s with wireless facilities for passengers to remain in touch with their friends and loved ones on the ground. The new aircraft has 254 seats in a two-class layout of 22 seats (turning into fully flat beds) in Business Class and 232 seats In Economy Class.
Every seat is equipped with an award-winning touch screen Android system, that allow passengers to navigate through a truly interactive service offering more than 1,000 movie, TV programmes, music and gaming entertainment options in a sophisticated and user friendly way, just like the smart phones.
The new aircraft will also be complemented with a recently-introduced new inflight culinary menu by award-winning chefs and dynamic mood lighting ensuring passengers are less fatigued after a flight.
One of the world’s fastest growing airlines, Qatar Airways will expand its network to new destinations including Belgrade, Serbia (November 20); Warsaw, Poland (December 5), Gassim, Saudi Arabia (7 January 2013); Najaf, Iraq (January 23); Phnom Penh, Cambodia (February 20); Chicago, USA (April 10); and Salalah, Oman (May 22) in 2013.