DOHA, Qatar – Qatar Airways concluded a successful appearance at the world’s largest travel and tourism fair, ITB Berlin, having made a significant network announcement whilst debuting its new cutting-edge technology exhibition stand to hundreds of travel professionals from around the world.
On the first day of ITB, Qatar Airways hosted a capacity crowd of more than 200 international journalists and announced a significant network expansion. The airline will soon serve five new cities in Europe: Pisa, Italy; Sarajevo, Bosnia; Helsinki, Finland; Skopje, Macedonia; and Nice, France.
Qatar Airways will also add six new destinations in Africa: Marrakech, Morocco; Windhoek, Namibia; Seychelles, Indian Ocean; Douala, Cameroon; Libreville, Gabon; and Lusaka, Zambia; and three new destinations in Asia and the South West Pacific: Auckland, New Zealand; Krabi and Chiang Mai in Thailand.
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “Qatar Airways continues to be the fastest-growing airline in the history of aviation, a distinction we wear proudly. We continue to connect the world, one flight at a time, and the public continues to respond to our extraordinary service.
“Two years ago, we predicted we would grow to 170 destinations, and we are right on track. Every employee of the airline has the same mission: to serve our passengers with extraordinary service so they continue to choose Qatar Airways, and tell their friends and family to choose us. With our ever-growing route network, we are making it easy for friends and family to connect and to explore new places for business or pleasure. We want our passengers to have wonderful journeys, and we want to go even more places together with them.”
Qatar Airways also unveiled a new exhibition stand at ITB Berlin this year. The stand offered the signature elements all travel and tourism professionals want to see and experience, such as the Business Class and First Class seat displays, as well as new features including an interactive global route network display and a holographic A350 model controlled through with ‘swipe’ or ‘gesture’ technology. This is the first known use of both technologies together by an airline.
H.E. Mr. Al Baker proudly hosted dignitaries, officials and visitors at the stand for meetings, closed door discussions and even hands-on demonstrations of the Qatar Airways seats on display.
Thousands of travel and trade professionals were hosted in the new exhibition stand over the five-day ITB event.
For Images: https://www.flickr.com/photos/qatarairways/albums/72157665976139555
Notes to Editors:
Qatar Airways, the national carrier of the State of Qatar, is one of the fastest growing airlines operating one of the youngest fleets in the world. Now in its 19th year of operations, Qatar Airways has a modern fleet of 179 aircraft flying to more than 150 key business and leisure destinations across six continents. Qatar Airways won Airline of the Year, Best Business Class Airline Seat and Best Airline in the Middle East at the 2015 Skytrax Awards. This is the third time the airline won the accolade of Airline of the Year.
Qatar Airways is a member of the oneworld global alliance. The award-winning alliance was named the World’s Best Airline Alliance 2015 by Skytrax for the third year running. Qatar Airways was the first Gulf carrier to join global airline alliance, oneworld, enabling its passengers to benefit from more than 1,000 airports in more than 150 countries, with 14,250 daily departures.
In 2015 Qatar Airways launched Oryx One, an enhanced interface for its inflight entertainment system, increasing the number of movies and TV shows on board from 950 to up to 3,000. Passengers flying on Qatar Airways flights served by its B787, A350, A380, A319 as well as select A320 and A330 aircraft can also stay in touch with their friends and family around the world by using the five-star airline’s on-board Wi-Fi and GSM service.
Qatar Airways is one of the world’s leaders in sponsoring global sporting events, including the strategic team sponsorships of FC Barcelona and Al-Ahli Saudi Arabia FC. Qatar Airways’ strategy reflects the values of sports as a means of bringing people together, something at the core of the airline’s own brand message - Going Places Together.
Qatar Airways Cargo, the world’s third largest cargo carrier, serves more than 50 exclusive freighter destinations worldwide via its Doha hub and also delivers freight to more than 150 key business and leisure destinations globally on 179 aircraft. The Qatar Airways Cargo fleet now includes eight Airbus 330Fs, eight Boeing 777 freighters and one Boeing 747 freighter.
For Qatar Airways corporate images, please click here: http://www.qatarairways.com/corporateimages
For further information contact:
Qatar Airways Group, Corporate Communications Department
Tel: +974 40222072, Fax: +974 40225350
E-mail: qrmedia@qatarairways.com.qa