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QATAR AIRWAYS ADDS A330
AND A320
TO EXPANDING FLEET
Qatar Airways will take delivery of its fourth A330-200
and its ninth A320-200 as it continues to expand its fleet
which will service around 50 destinations across Europe, the
Middle East, North Africa, the Indian sub-continent and the
Far East by the end of the year.
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Mr. Akbar Al Baker
announced yesterday that the airline took delivery of a new
A320-200 in early April and will take delivery of its fourth
A330-200 on April 18.
"The delivery of the two new Airbus aircraft represents
our continuing commitment to offer our customers a greater
choice of destinations, more flights, and a premium class
service," said Mr. Al Baker.
"While other international airlines are cutting back
their services, we're confident we can continue to offer the
travelling public a world class airline service.
"Qatar Airways is now operating a fleet of 23 aircraft,
where we had just 12 a little more than a year ago. In the
last year we carried 1.7 million passengers. This year our
fleet will carry around 2.7 million passengers.
"This type of growth underscores why Qatar Airways has
become one of the fastest growing airlines in the world.
"The new A330 will be used principally for our new
non-stop flights to Manila, which we're now operating fives
times a week.
"This means that flight times to the Philippines have
been reduced by three hours and that people can experience
the latest in inflight entertainment and airline amenity
"The new A320 is already being used to service our
regional destinations across the Gulf, the Middle East and
the Indian sub-continent," said Mr. Al Baker
The two new aircraft are owned by Qatar Airways.
Qatar Airways' fleet now consists of four A330-200s, nine
A320-200s, nine A300-600s, and an ACJ319 corporate jetliner.
The fleet will number 28 by the end of the year, and also
include a long range ACJ319. Qatar Airways is also one of
the launch customers of the A380 super jumbo.
Qatar Airways presently flies to 41 destinations, which
will increase to around 50 by the end of the year as part of
a growth strategy that will allow the airline to offer its
customers a greater choice of destinations, more flights and
fast connections at its hub in Doha.
Qatar Airways also operates a number of subsidiary
companies including: Qatar Aviation Services, Qatar Aviation
Catering Company, Qatar Airways Holidays, Doha International
Airport, and Qatar Duty Free. For more information, please
visit the website at
<file:///C:/DOCUME~2/Owner/LOCALS~1/Temp/FrontPageTempDir/www.qatarairways.com>
www.qatarairways.com.
QATAR AIRWAYS EXPANDS UK SERVICES WITH NEW GATWICK
ROUTE
Airline Increases Capacity Between London And Arabian
Gulf
TORONTO &endash; Award-winning Qatar Airways, one of
the fastest growing airlines in the world, has celebrated
the launch of daily non-stop scheduled services between
Doha, capital of the State of Qatar, and London
Gatwick.
The new route marks an expansion of the airline's
operations in the UK where it already serves London
Heathrow twice-daily from Doha.
The Gatwick service is operated by the
state-of-the-art long-range Airbus A330-200 in a
two-class configuration of Business and Economy,
featuring the latest inflight entertainment system, Audio
Video On Demand.
The new London Gatwick flights QR075 depart Doha at
0150, arriving in Gatwick at 0630. Return flights QR076
depart London Gatwick at 0955, arriving in Doha at
1935.
Gatwick is one of six new winter routes being launched
from Doha over the next six weeks, increasing Qatar
Airways' global reach from 53 to 59 destinations.
Last month Qatar Airways became the first Middle East
carrier to launch non-stop scheduled flights between Doha
and Beijing, China. Seychelles came on line on December
1, Yangon joins the network on January 8 and both
Johannesburg and Cape Town will feature on Qatar Airways'
global map from January 16.
The airline operates across Europe, the Middle East,
Africa, Indian subcontinent and the Far East. By the end
of 2005, the airline plans to serve at least 70
destinations, including cities in North America and
Australia.
Qatar Airways senior manager commercial operations
West, Fathi Al Shehab led a delegation from the Middle
East on the inaugural Gatwick service and expressed his
delight on behalf of the company about the new route.
"Adding Gatwick to our operation is a significant
milestone for Qatar Airways as the route complements our
Heathrow services and we can now offer passengers three
flights a day between Doha and the London market," said
Al Shehab.
"We provide excellent connections to both business and
leisure travellers flying on our route network via Doha
and we will be able to offer additional connections over
Gatwick to North America with our partner airlines."
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer, Akbar Al Baker
added that London Gatwick was part of a route expansion
programme that reinforced the carrier's position as one
of the fastest growing airlines in the world.
"Qatar Airways is really spreading its reach to
exciting new destinations to cater for growing demand
from a diverse group of travellers," he said.
"London is one of our prime markets where we have
gradually increased capacity out of Heathrow over the
years. Gatwick offers an alternative choice to the highly
popular Heathrow services."
As one of the fastest growing and youngest carriers in
the world, Qatar Airways has made significant inroads in
the global aviation industry to become an award-winning
airline in just a short few years.
"We recently joined an elite club of only two other
airlines to be awarded a Five Star ranking for our high
standards, excellent service and good quality by Skytrax,
the independent aviation industry monitoring agency,"
said Al Baker.
Skytrax has also ranked Qatar Airways' cabin crew as
the best in the Middle East for the second year running
and fifth best in the world following a survey of more
than two million passengers worldwide.
Qatar Airways operates a modern all-Airbus fleet of 36
aircraft which will double in size over the next few
years following a $5.1bn order for 34 additional Airbus
jets.
The airline currently offers the latest inflight
entertainment system on board the Airbus A330. The
entertainment system features 32 Hollywood movies and
films from around the world and short programmes,
together with a choice of 40 CDs, 16 audio channels and
12 interactive games such as Solitaire and
Millionaire.
In addition to the winter 2005 flying programme, Qatar
Airways will launch four new routes &endash; Osaka,
Athens, Tunis and Algiers &endash; from summer 2005.
For more information, visit www.qatarairways.com.
Qatar Airways maintains an office in Toronto, Canada,
which can be contacted at: Tel. (416) 290-0999 / toll
free 1-888-366-5666, or by email at
help@qatarairways.ca.
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