Doha, QATAR – Qatar Airways will once again be the Official Carrier of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2011, to be held in the State of Qatar from 3 – 8 January 2011.
The world’s biggest names in men’s tennis, including Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, will grace the courts of the Khalifa International Tennis Complex – the first major sporting event of 2011 in Qatar.
Last year’s winner, Nikolay Davydenko from Russia, will be defending his title.
Qatar Airways has a close association with three major tennis tournaments in Qatar – the women’s WTA championships, which was held in November, this week’s Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2011 and the Qatar Ladies Open in February.
“Qatar Airways is once again delighted to be supporting one of the world’s most popular sports, attracting leading international tennis players to Doha for what promises to be six days of great tennis this week,” said Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker.
Over the next three months, Qatar Airways introduces four new destinations to its global network – Bucharest (January 17), Budapest (January 17), Brussels (January 31), and Stuttgart (March 6), before launching its 100th network point to the Syrian city of Aleppo on April 6.
The airline’s fleet currently stands at 94 aircraft, flying to 95 destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, and North & South America. By 2013, Qatar Airways plans to serve 120 key business and leisure destinations worldwide with a modern fleet of 120 aircraft.
Qatar Airways was recently voted as third best airline in the world following the annual Skytrax survey of 18 million international passengers. In the survey, the airline was also voted as having the best Business Class service and catering in the world, as well as being honoured as the Best Airline in The Middle East for the fifth consecutive year.
Qatar Airways also became the first airline to receive the Staff Service Excellence Award for the Middle East. The new award replaces the Best Cabin Staff in the Middle East category, which Qatar Airways has won for the past seven years. The expanded category now includes airline staff at all passenger touch points, including onboard, reservations, check-in and airport personnel.
Qatar Airways has orders for 80 Airbus A350s, 60 Boeing 787s and 32 Boeing 777s, with deliveries of the latter having started in November 2007. The airline is one of the customers of the twin-deck Airbus A380 ‘super jumbos’ with five on order and scheduled for delivery from 2012, by which time the New Doha International Airport would have opened. For more information, visit www.qatarairways.com.
Qatar Airways Corporate Communications
Tel: +974 44496956, Fax: +974 444620132
E-mail: qrmedia@qatarairways.com.qa