Qatar Airways was “right on track” to realise its targeted 170 destinations, said group chief executive Akbar al-Baker.
“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,” al-Baker said in the context of the airline’s successful participation at the just concluded ITB Berlin.
“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,” he said.
Qatar Airways had unveiled a new exhibition stand at ITB Berlin. 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.
Thousands of travel and trade professionals were hosted in the new exhibition stand over the five-day ITB event.
On the first day, Qatar Airways 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.