2012 saw Qatar Airways celebrate several historic milestones. The airline brought home its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner. 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 said, “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.”
The airline was also elected as the newest member of the oneworld alliance, adding one of the world’s fastest growing and most highly rated airlines to the world’s leading quality airline alliance.
Qatar Airways, named Airline of the Year for the past two years by the Skytrax independent airline quality rating agency, is the first of the three major airlines based in the Gulf to sign for any of the global airline alliances. It is also the second largest full service airline in the world not, until today, aligned to one of big global airline alliances.
The Doha-based airline’s implementation into oneworld is expected to be complete later this year. The carrier is set to move into a brand new home in 2013 with the opening of the Hamad International Airport, designed to strengthen its position as a premium global hub with an eventual capacity for 50 million passengers a year.
Al Baker said: “Alliances are playing an increasingly important role in the airline industry today – and that will continue long into the future. Qatar Airways has carefully reviewed its strategic options and it is very clear that joining oneworld is by far the best way forward for us as we look to strengthen our competitive offering and give passengers what they fully deserve – more choice.
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“In Qatar Airways’ relatively short history, we have quickly established a reputation for innovation, quality and excellence in everything we do, raising standards which our industry peers have watched with envy. We are pleased to build on that by becoming the only major airline from the Gulf to date to be invited to join any of the global airline alliances – and we are proud to have been invited to join the best of them, in oneworld,” he added.
In just 15 years of operations, Qatar Airways has built up a solid international route network flying to key business and leisure destinations worldwide – and winning countless awards for high service levels, including the Five Star accolade given by Skytrax.
When Qatar Airways becomes part of oneworld, its customers will gain access to the alliance’s truly global network. The 2.2 million members of its Privilege Club frequent flyer programme will be able to earn and redeem rewards on any of oneworld’s other carriers.
At the same time, the 125 million frequent flyer cardholders of oneworld’s established airlines will be able to earn and redeem rewards when flying on Qatar Airways and access Qatar Airways’ lounges.
In another first, the airline introduced an incredible line-up of globally renowned chefs to their unrivalled five-star service, with the award-winning Chef Ramzi Choueiri, Chef Vineet Bhatia, Chef Tom Aikens and Chef Nobu Matsuhisa inspiring an entirely new inflight dining experience.
The all-star team of culinary ambassadors has collaborated exclusively with Qatar Airways to create the ‘Qatar Airways Culinary World Menu’ – a new range of tempting signature dishes to satisfy the tastes of the airline’s discerning passengers.
Qatar Airways’ network serves 120 destinations in 70 countries in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, North and South America, Asia and Australasia, including oneworld hubs Amman, Berlin Tegel, Buenos Aires Ezeiza, Hong Kong, London Heathrow, Madrid, Melbourne, Moscow Domodedovo, New York JFK, Osaka Kansai, Sydney, Tokyo Narita, and the Kuala Lumpur home of oneworld member elect Malaysia Airlines.
More recently Belgrade, Serbia; Warsaw, Poland, Gassim, Saudi Arabia; Najaf, Iraq and Phnom Penh, Cambodia were added to its network with further plans to add Chicago, USA and Salalah, Oman in 2013.
Qatar Airways operates one of the world’s youngest and most modern fleets, currently standing at 111 Boeing and Airbus aircraft with an average age of just four years old.
Its addition will increase oneworld’s global coverage to 856 destinations in 159 countries, served by a combined fleet of 2,600 aircraft operating more than 9,300 flights and carrying almost a million passengers every day (342 million a year), generating annual revenues of nearly $120 billion.