In a statement, the Doha-based airline said it “played an important role in flying distinguished members of the Indian film industry” as guests on board Qatar Airways to Madrid, including leading celebrities such as Sonakshi Sinha, Bipasha Basu, Fawad Khan, Abhay Deol, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Vivek Oberoi, Subhash Ghai, David Dhawan, Gulshan Grover and others.
Jonathan Harding, Qatar Airways senior vice-president (Europe), said the airline was delighted to have well-known celebrities on board from the Indian film fraternity.
“Qatar Airways has the proud tradition of sponsoring some of the biggest events in the world, and as a partner to IIFA, we are very excited to have hosted these leading Bollywood celebrities on our double-daily flights to Madrid, allowing them to experience our acclaimed Qatari hospitality and service. As one of the most popular international events in Bollywood, IIFA is watched by Indian film fans from around the world, and is therefore a perfect platform to showcase Qatar Airways’ popularity among film fans.”
One of the most talked-about annual events in the Indian film circuit, IIFA 2016 in Madrid attracted more than 150 Bollywood celebrities and an audience of approximately 6,500 people. Bollywood film fans keen to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars were not disappointed as many, including Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra, Shahid Kapoor, Farhan Akhtar and Tiger Shroff, made appearances and gave “spell-binding performances” during the celebrations.
IIFA has been instrumental in attracting the most well-known celebrities in India to travel to Spain. As the official airline, Qatar Airways has also been able to facilitate fans travelling from 13 key Indian cities it serves, the statement adds.
Qatar Airways currently flies to Madrid two times a day and connects seamlessly via Doha to Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Chennai, Goa, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Mumbai, New Delhi, Nagpur and Trivandrum.
