The Doha-based carrier has been recognised at the high-profile 5th Annual TTG China Travel Awards, held this year at the Marriott Hotel, Shanghai.

Winners of the TTG China Travel Awards are nominated by more than 32,000 readers of TTG China, TTG Asia, TTGmice and TTG-BTmice China through online and print voting.

Readers of the prestigious industry publication base their voting on the strength of the airline’s customer service, its route network, services and its marketing and advertising programmes.

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said the award follows the airline’s highly successful launch of scheduled flights to Chongqing in November – the airline’s fifth Chinese gateway.

“Since our inaugural flight to Chongqing last year, we’ve seen steady growth in passenger numbers, as both business and leisure travellers take advantage of this new entry point,” he said.

“2011 was a big year for Qatar Airways and 2012 is going to be even bigger, introducing more travel options for passengers flying from China to more than 100 destinations worldwide.

“We look forward to introducing more routes to our international network and increasing the capacity on existing sectors to continue giving our customers a wide array of travel choices.

“Our continued investment in delivering only the very best to all our customers and our ongoing commitment to targeting underserved and emerging markets has made us an industry leader.”

Qatar Airways Country Manager Greater China Jared Lee, who accepted the award on behalf of the airline, said: “Winning this award is testament to the 5-star service that we extend to all of our passengers, both in the air and on the ground.

“We are delighted to receive this award as well as the vote of confidence from the readers of such an esteemed travel title as TTG China and its sister publications including TTG Asia and TTGmice.”

Qatar Airways currently operates a modern fleet of 108 aircraft to 113 key business and leisure destinations worldwide. Last year was a landmark 12 months for Qatar Airways, which inducted 15 new destinations to its network, and won the coveted Skytrax Airline of the Year Award.

As part of its 2012 expansion programme, Qatar Airways launches flights to a further 11 destinations – Zagreb (Croatia) from May 9; Perth (Australia) from July 3 and others cities during the year, including Mombasa (Kenya), Zanzibar (Tanzania), Helsinki (Finland), Belgrade (Serbia), Erbil (Iraq), Baghdad (Iraq), Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) and Yangon (Myanmar). In February, the carrier launched services to the Azerbaijan capital Baku and Georgia’s capital city of Tbilisi, and last month began flights to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda in East Africa.