Qatar Airways has seen its fleet expand by about 20% in 2015, a year that also saw the national airline crossing many milestones including its success as the ‘global launch customer’ for Airbus A350.
Qatar Airways added some 29 new aircraft to the fleet this year, increasing its total aircraft count by 20%, reflecting the airline’s significant growth and expansion.
Towards the year-end, the airline launched a new brand campaign, “Going Places Together” and debuting an exclusive on-board safety video featuring the world-famous FC Barcelona players.
Qatar Airways Group chief executive Akbar al-Baker said, “As 2015 comes to an end, Qatar Airways is able to reflect on a number of successes throughout the year, while also celebrating the launch of our new global brand campaign and latest on-board safety video. This has been a momentous way to end what has been a truly historic year for the national carrier of Qatar which has seen, among other things, several top award wins, the forging of new partnerships, strong engagement on social media, the launch of a brand new aircraft type and the start of several new routes on both its passenger and cargo networks.”
Qatar Airways recently launched its new global brand campaign featuring the tagline “Going Places Together” reflecting the essence of the airline’s core ambitious plan for next year – to strengthen its global reach by bringing people and places together. The airline also created a huge buzz by breaking industry ‘norms’ with its fresh and unique on-board safety video featuring famous FC Barcelona’s La Liga players like Lionel Messi, Neymar, Luis Suarez, Gerard Pique, Ivan Rakitic and Javier Mascherano.
“The phenomenal response to our new global brand campaign and safety video has been overwhelming and has strengthened the strong bond that Qatar Airways has with its passengers,” said Salam al-Shawa, Qatar Airways senior vice-president (Marketing & Corporate Communications).
“The new brand campaign evokes an emotional connection inspiring passengers to go to new places together, where our dreams and ambitions may be brought to life. Our new safety video with FC Barcelona players has captured the attention of our passengers and the wider communities, including our large social media fan base.”
Qatar Airways took off this year as the global launch customer of the A350, the very latest in aircraft design by Airbus. With this achievement, Qatar Airways became the first airline in the world to operate every family of Airbus’ modern airliner portfolio, comprising of the A320, A330, A340, A350 and A380.
At a ceremony at the Dubai Air Show in November, Qatar Airways welcomed the 25th Boeing 787 Dreamliner into its young fleet. The average age of Qatar Airways’ fleet is four years, amongst the youngest in the industry.
Qatar Airways launched eight destinations in 2015 — Abha, Amsterdam, Durban, Nagpur, Faisalabad, Multan, Sialkot and Zanzibar. Responding to growing demand in its existing markets, the airline increased service to more than 30 of its destinations.
For instance, the airline launched an additional daily flight to Singapore this year and also had a significant increase in seat capacity of 32% by deploying a larger aircraft to Bengaluru in India, as part of its global expansion drive.
In 2016, the airline has planned new routes to Adelaide, Atlanta, Birmingham, Boston, Los Angeles, Sydney and Ras Al Khaimah.
The year also saw Qatar Airways being crowned the ‘Skytrax Airline of the Year’ for the third time in five years.
In addition, the airline also collected two other awards — ‘Best business class airline seat’ and ‘Best airline in the Middle East’.
At the Paris Air Show in June, Qatar Airways made history by displaying five aircraft — an A380, A350, A320, A319 and a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. In Paris, Qatar Airways also announced a firm order for 10 777-8Xs and four 777 freighters with a total order value of $4.8bn.
Qatar Executive, Qatar Airways’ business jet division, also announced an aircraft order for up to 30 aircraft from Gulfstream, diversifying their owned-and-operated fleet for the first time. Qatar Airways also created history this year by becoming the first airline in the world to pass 10mn fans on Facebook.
Al-Baker with senior airline executives at the Skytrax Awards ceremony.
