With over 500 people participating, Qatar Airways was proud to be part of the government’s initiative to encourage a healthy lifestyle among locals and expatriates living in Qatar.

Al Jazeera Academy was the venue for Qatar Airways’ sports day, which featured a range of sporting activities, including football, basketball, tennis and volleyball.

Additional highlights included races for children and mums, a tug-of-war competition, together with a face painting and henna station, indoor playground area for children and cafeteria featuring snacks and refreshments for all. There were also plenty of prizes to give away, including a raffle draw.

Qatar Airways has a long history of lending its full support to sporting events in Doha and overseas, being named the Official Airline of key tournaments in the country’s sporting calendar. These include the men’s and women’s tennis, the Qatar ExxonMobil Open and Qatar Total Open respectively, as well as cycling and golf – the Tour of Qatar and the Qatar Masters – all of which have taken place in the first two months of the year, with many others upcoming.

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said: “As a regular supporter of world-class sporting events right here in our home city of Doha, it was only fitting that we dedicate this day to enjoy the benefits of being committed to a healthy lifestyle.”

“Many employees and their families enjoyed a great day out dedicated to them and encouraging them to engage in a healthy sporting lifestyle. We look forward to this annual event, in which we surely anticipate to include an even wider repertoire of activities,” added Al Baker.

The set up of the event was a series of drop-in stations where participants could choose from a variety of games to participate in, utilising the full range of Al Jazeera Academy’s excellent sporting facilities.

Airline employees thoroughly enjoyed what was not only a national event dedicated to embracing and participating in sport, but also the opportunity to interact with fellow colleagues in friendly fanfare and competition.

Bowling was also among the sports Qatar Airways team members took part in, on the eve of National Sports Day.

Three of the airline’s bowling teams, the Qatar Airways 777s, Qatar Airways IT, and the Qatar Airways Cargo Crushers played head-to-head against some of Qatar’s best bowlers. All three teams reigned as winners, taking the highly-coveted winner’s titles.

Qatar Airways currently operates a modern fleet of 104 aircraft to 112 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America. 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 recently launched flights to the European capital cities of Tbilisi in Georgia and Baku in Azerbaijan.
 
The Doha-based carrier will launch scheduled flights to a further seven destinations this year – Kigali (Rwanda) from March 21; Zagreb (Croatia) from May 9; Perth (Australia) from July 3; with dates yet to be announced for other new routes – Mombasa (Kenya), Zanzibar (Tanzania), Helsinki (Finland), and Gassim (Saudi Arabia).