THE QATAR AIRWAYS STORY Charting The Rise Of One Of The Fastest Growing Airlines In The World

THE QATAR AIRWAYS STORY
Charting The Rise Of One Of The Fastest Growing Airlines In The World
Airline Of The Year 2011, 2012, 2015 & 2017
Best Business Class In The World 2013, 2014, 2016
& 2017
(Skytrax Airline Global Industry Audit)
Introduction
Qatar Airways is the national airline of the State of Qatar and one of the aviation industry’s big success
stories. Operations began in 1994 when the airline was a small regional carrier serving a handful of
routes. The airline was re-launched in 1997 under the mandate of His Highness The Father Emir, Sheikh
Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who outlined a vision to turn Qatar Airways into a leading international airline
with the highest standards of service and excellence.
Qatar Airways has since become one of the fastest growing carriers in the history of aviation with
unprecedented expansion averaging double digit growth year on year.
The airline has developed under the dynamic leadership of Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr.
Akbar Al Baker, appointed in 1997, who has been instrumental in turning Qatar Airways into an awardwinning carrier and the best in the world.
Under Mr. Al Baker’s stewardship, Qatar Airways has matured into a leading force in regional and global
aviation, earning many admirers around the world for its excellent standards of service.
In April 2011, Qatar Airways reached a milestone reaching 100 destinations in its global route map. Two
months later, the airline achieved a remarkable feat, just 14 years after its re-launch, being named Airline
of the Year 2011 at the annual Skytrax World Airline Awards with over 18 million travellers worldwide
casting their votes.
In July 2012, Qatar Airways was once again named Airline of the Year 2012, holding onto its title for the
second consecutive year.
Qatar Airways joined oneworld, as of 30 October 2013, with integration into the global alliance completed
within one year of the October 2012 joining announcement. Qatar Airways remains the only Gulf airline
member in any of the big three global alliances.
In 2014 the airline became the global launch customer of the first Airbus A350.
In June 2015, Qatar Airways achieved a major accomplishment receiving the Skytrax Airline of the Year
2015 accolade for a third time.
2016 to date has seen another year of notable expansion for the leading airline. Qatar Airways won
World’s Best Business Class; Best Business Class Airline Lounge and Best Airline Staff Service in the
Middle East at the Skytrax Awards and announced a commitment for 100 Boeing aircraft: 10 777s, 30 787-
9s and 60 737 MAX aircraft, to power its future growth. One of the biggest orders in the airline’s history,
worth more than US$90 billion, the announcement brought the total number of aircraft the airline has on
order to more than 350. Qatar Airways also announced a new order for three G650ERs private jets on the
opening day of the 2016 Farnborough Air show in July, demonstrating continued growth and expansion of
its Qatar Executive division.
Qatar Airways will become the first airline in the world to meet and exceed ICAO’s Global Aeronautical
Distress Safety System (GADSS) requirement for aircraft location management, through a partnership with
FlightAware and Aireon, LLC using its GlobalBeacon technology, which will provide minute by minute
tracking capabilities.
Qatar Airways Group announced a 3 billion QAR operating profit for fiscal year 2016 – nearly three times
greater than fiscal 2015 profit of 1.1 billion QAR, resulting in an 8.6 per cent operating profit margin, an
improvement of nearly six percentage points from the prior year, from 35.6 billion QAR in revenues. The
company reported a net profit of 1.6 billion QAR, resulting in a net profit margin of 4.5 per cent. Net profit for
fiscal 2015 was 1.1 per cent, at 374 million QAR.
During this year Qatar Airways also strengthened its relationship with International Airlines Group (IAG).
On 12 July 2016 Qatar Airways increased its shareholding in IAG to 20 per cent. Qatar Airways and British
Airways’ parent company, IAG, also announced a joint business agreement effective 30 October 2016.
Qatar Airways opened the Al Safwa First Lounge at Hamad International Airport in 2015, and the Premium
Lounge at Dubai International Airport in 2016.
In 2017, Qatar Airways has again been named as Airline of the Year by the prestigious 2017 Skytrax
World Airline Awards. The airline collected a host of other awards at this year’s Skytrax ceremony,
including Best First Class Airline Lounge, Best Airline in the Middle East and World’s Best Business Class.
The airline’s annual revenue has increased by 10.4 per cent in the fiscal year 2017 (April 1st 2016 to
March 31st 2017) revealing a 21.7 per cent year-on-year net profit increase.
Global Network and Expansion
From Qatar Airways’ hub in Doha, the country’s capital, the airline has developed a global network of
more than 150 destinations, covering Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, Asia Pacific, North
America and South America with a modern fleet of more than 206 passenger and cargo aircraft.
During 2010, Qatar Airways launched flights to 10 new destinations including: Bengaluru (Bangalore),
Tokyo, Ankara, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Phuket, Hanoi and Nice.
In 2011, another historic year for Qatar Airways saw the launch of flights to 15 destinations with expansion
focusing on Europe – Bucharest, Budapest, Brussels, Stuttgart, Venice, Oslo and Sofia. Other new routes
included Shiraz (Iran), Medina (Saudi Arabia), Kolkata (Calcutta), Entebbe (Uganda), Chongqing
(China) and its entry to Canada with thrice-weekly flights to Montreal.
For 2012, Qatar Airways expanded operations to further destinations – Baku (Azerbaijan), Tbilisi (Georgia),
Zagreb (Croatia), Perth (Australia), Kigali (Rwanda), Kilimanjaro (Tanzania), Yangon (Myanmar), Baghdad
(Iraq), Erbil (Iraq), Maputo (Mozambique), Belgrade (Serbia) and Warsaw (Poland).
For 2013, Qatar Airways has expanded its global footprint to serve Gassim (Saudi Arabia); Najaf (Iraq);
Phnom Penh (Cambodia); Chicago, its fourth gateway in the United States; Salalah (Oman), Chengdu
(China), Basra (Iraq), Sulaymaniyah (Iraq), Clark International (Philippines), Ta’if (Saudi Arabia), Addis
Ababa (Ethiopia) and Hangzhou (China).
In 2014, the carrier launched flights to Sharjah and Dubai World Central in the UAE, Philadelphia (USA),
Edinburgh (Scotland), Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport (Turkey), Larnaca (Cyprus), Al Hofuf (Saudi Arabia),
Miami (USA), Dallas/Fort Worth (USA), Djibouti (Djibouti) and Asmara (Eritrea) in Africa.
During 2015, Qatar Airways has extended its route network to more than 150 destinations including flights
to Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Zanzibar (Tanzania), Nagpur (India) and Durban (South Africa).
In 2016, the airline has so far launched routes to Los Angeles (USA), Ras Al Khaimah (UAE), Sydney
(Australia), Boston (USA), Birmingham (UK), Adelaide (Australia), Yerevan (Armenia), Atlanta
(USA),Marrakech (Morocco), Pisa (Italy), Windhoek (Namibia) and Helsinki (Finland). In December the
airline will be further expanding its network to Krabi (Thailand) and Seychelles.
Qatar Airways started flying its A380 to Sydney on 12 September 2016, just after six months following the
launch of operations, and in doing so introduced First Class services to travellers into and out of Australia’s
popular destination for the first time.
In 2017, Qatar Airways has accelerated its global expansion with launch of flights to Czech Republic
(PRG), Ukraine (KBP), Turkey (ADA), Bosnia & Herzegovina (SJJ), Macedonia (SKP), Oman (SOH),
Ireland (DUB) to name a few.
The world’s fast growing airline will add a number of exciting new destinations to its growing network in
2017/18, including Chiang Mai (Thailand), St. Petersburg (Russia), Cardiff (Wales), Penang (Malaysia),
Canberra (Australia) and many more.
New Brand Campaign
Qatar Airways launched a new global brand campaign and tagline – Going Places Together – in New York,
USA in 2015. The ‘Going Places Together’ campaign plays on the theme of achieving great things together
whether for work, for family or for adventure, and encourages passengers to take journeys that will help
them achieve their dreams and ambitions. One of the fastest growing airlines operating one of the youngest
fleets in the world, Qatar Airways has adopted the emotive and modern brand campaign to reflect its core
values as a contemporary and innovative company that is really going places and wants nothing more than
to inspire its passengers to do the same.
Qatar Airways has received tremendous support globally for its television and social media commercial
titled ‘No Borders, Only Horizons’, which has been viewed by more than 54 million viewers worldwide,
making it the top viral video during the last week of June 2017.
Young Fleet
From only four aircraft in 1997, the airline grew to a fleet size of 28 aircraft by the end of 2003 and a
milestone 50 by October 2006. Today the airline operates 206 aircraft to more than 150 destinations
worldwide.
Qatar Airways has one of the industry’s youngest fleets with an average aircraft age of five years. The
Qatar Airways family includes several different Airbus and Boeing aircraft types – the long-range Boeing
777 passenger and freighter aircraft, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 747F, Airbus A340, A330, A350,
A380, A330F freighter, A321, A320 and A319. The latter A319 includes a corporate jet version.
With the delivery of the A350 aircraft in December 2014, for which it was the global launch customer,
Qatar Airways became the first airline in the world to operate every family of Airbus’ modern airliner
portfolio. On 15 January 2015 Qatar Airways deployed its newly-received, world-first, Airbus A350 XWB
aircraft, on the Frankfurt route. In 2016 became the first airline to fly the A350 to three continents.
Qatar Airways was one of the launch customers of the twin-deck Airbus A380-800 ‘super jumbo’ – the
world’s biggest aircraft capable of carrying 517 passengers in a luxurious configuration. Qatar Airways
has ordered 13 A380s with the first aircraft delivered in 2014, to date it operates 6 A380s.
The airline was the Middle East launch customer of the Dreamliner, Boeing’s 787 aircraft.
The company also operates corporate jets, including Bombardier Challenger 605s, Bombardier Global
5000s and a Global Express XRS, for its executive subsidiary Qatar Executive, launched in 2009.
Qatar Executive, the largest G650ER operator in the world, continues to expand its operations, placing an
order for 30 Gulfstream business jets at EBACE in Geneva during May 2015. The 30 firm orders and
options are a combination of Gulfstream’s new wide-cabin aircraft, the G500 and G600, and the existing
G650ER.
Qatar Airways currently has more than 350 new aircraft worth more than US$90 billion pending delivery
over the next few years. This includes orders for Airbus’ new generation A350s, A320 Neos, A380s, A330
Freighters, and Boeing 777s, Boeing 777Xs, Boeing 787-9s and has signed a Letter of Intent for 60 Boeing
737 MAX aircraft.
Global Achievements
Qatar Airways is proud to have been named Airline of the Year for the fourth time in 2017 as well as in
2011, 2012 and 2015 in the annual Skytrax World Airline Awards. Over 18 million travellers worldwide cast
their votes in the survey by the leading global airline industry audit.
A multiple award-winning airline, Qatar Airways was awarded World’s Best Business Class; Best Business
Class Airline Lounge and Best Airline Staff Service in the Middle East at the prestigious 2016 Skytrax
World Airline Awards.
Having been elevated to third best airline in the world by Skytrax in 2010, announcement of the 2011
results ranking Qatar Airways as Airline of the Year was a culmination of the sheer dedication and hard
work by the airline’s workforce under the leadership of its Group Chief Executive His Excellency Mr.
Akbar Al Baker.
Already recognised for service excellence by Skytrax, the independent global aviation industry monitoring
agency confirmed Qatar Airways as Best Airline in the Middle East for the eighth year and in 2015 Qatar
Airways was also awarded Best Business Class Airline Seat. In 2014, Qatar Airways also won the Best
Business Class in the World for the second consecutive year and World’s Best Business Class Airline
Lounge for the second year consecutively.
In 2016, Qatar Airways was listed on the annual ranking of the world’s top 500 brands, ranking at 451st
most valuable brand.
Safety
Qatar Airways was the first airline in the world to pass the International Air Transport Association
(IATA) Operational Safety Audit with a maximum 100 per cent compliance in 2003 and passed the test
again during the two-year renewal period in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013 and in June 2015.
The audit was set up to standardise and rationalise a number of safety and security procedures carried out
by individual airlines for the purpose of code sharing. Qatar Airways was assessed on flight and ground
operations, aircraft engineering, maintenance, operational security, cabin operations and management
systems.
Hamad International Airport
Hamad International Airport commenced commercial operations in April 2014 at a cost of US$15.5 billion
and with an initial capacity of 30 million passengers a year. Once fully developed, the airport is expected
to handle up to 50 million passengers a year. One of the project’s key features is that 60 per cent of the
site is built on reclaimed land from the Arabian Gulf.
Qatar Airways is managing the new airport, designed to help shape Doha as a key regional and global
aviation hub.
Hamad International Airport is proud to have been named Best Airport in the Middle East in 2016 at the
annual Skytrax World Airport Awards. In 2017, Hamad International Airport was rated five-star by Skytrax
The World Airport Awards is one of only five in the world to be given this recognition.
Passenger Traffic
During the 2003/2004 financial year, Qatar Airways carried 3.3m passengers, up 35% on the previous 12-
month period. During the 2004/2005 financial year, passenger numbers rose sharply to 4.6m, while the
figure topped 6 million in the 12-month 2005/06 financial period. The figure surpassed the 8 million
passenger mark for the 2006/07 financial year and hit around 10 million passengers for 2007/08
financial period.
The airline exceeded 12 million passengers for the 2008/09 financial year. In the financial year 2009/10,
the airline exceeded 14 million passengers. During the 2010/11 financial year, the airline carried over 16
million passengers worldwide, hit over 17 million passengers in 2011/2012, and surpassed 18 million
during the 2012/13 financial period. Qatar Airways exceeded over 26 million passengers in 2014/15, and
more than 30 million passengers in 2015/16.
Qatar Airways’ success relies on the support of its home and hub, Hamad International Airport, which was
It opened in 2014 and now processes more than 38 million passengers a year.
Corporate Social Responsibility
As an industry leader, Qatar Airways and its group of companies strive to lead the charge towards
environmental sustainability and corporate social responsibility. The airline is one of the leaders in new generation fuel research and gives back to the communities in which we serve.
Qatar Airways goes beyond the current industry best practices for fuel and environmental management
and is making a serious effort to ensure a sustainable future for the airline, its staff and its
neighborhoods.
In 2012, Qatar Airways negotiated a worldwide partnership with Educate A Child (EAC), a global education
programme launched by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser of Qatar. EAC is designed to address the
plight of 61 million out-of-school children around the world, who are denied access to quality primary
education.
FOR QATAR AIRWAYS CORPORATE IMAGES PLEASE VISIT THE FOLLOWING WEBSITE:
FLICKR URL:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/qatarairways/collections/

For further information:
Qatar Airways Corporate Communications Group

Tel: +974 – 4022 2200, Fax: +974 – 4022 5350
E-mail: qrmedia@qatarairways.com.qa

Web: www.qatarairways.com