Qatar Airways extended its congratulations to the organisers of the 18th Asian Games for providing a spectacular, star-studded closing ceremony to the prestigious competition, featuring a host of Asia’s most celebrated dancers, musicians and artists at the Gelora Bung Karno stadium in Jakarta on Sunday. 
The national carrier of the State of Qatar was prestige partner and official airline for the Games, which saw the nation’s most talented athletes bring home a total of 13 medals including six gold, four silver and three bronze. 
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar al-Baker, said: “Qatar Airways was delighted to see such a fitting end to the 18th Asian Games, which has been a successful and exciting tournament from start to finish. As the prestige partner and official airline of this world-class sporting event, Qatar Airways has been extremely proud to play such a significant part in uniting fans from around the globe, something which is central to the airline’s belief in the power of sport and its ability to bring people together. We now have the privilege of transporting more than 200 of our national athletes home to share the celebration of their incredible success with the people of Qatar.”
This is the second time that Qatar Airways has sponsored the Asian Games. The multiple award-winning airline was also the official airline of the 15th Asian Games in Doha in 2006, in what was the largest sporting event in the history of Qatar at the time. 
The Asian Games is a continental multi-sporting event held every four years, and is the second largest multi-sporting event after the Olympic Games. The award-winning airline provides triple-daily services to Jakarta, served by a Boeing 787-8 aircraft, featuring 22 seats in Business Class and 232 seats in Economy Class, and triple-daily services to Denpasar, served by a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, featuring 24 seats in Business Class and 388 seats in Economy Class.
In May 2017, Qatar Airways announced a groundbreaking sponsorship deal with FIFA, which saw the award-winning airline become the official partner and official airline of FIFA until 2022. The partnership, one of the biggest sporting sponsorships in the world, will give Qatar Airways extensive marketing and branding rights at the 2022 World Cup Qatar, with an expected audience reach of more than two billion people.
The agreement sees Qatar Airways become the Official Airline Partner of the FIFA Club World Cup, the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the FIFA Under-20 and Under 17 World Cups, the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, and the FIFA Interactive World Cup.
Qatar Airways holds an extensive global sports portfolio, sponsoring some of the biggest teams around the world. In addition to its existing partnership with the German football club giants FC Bayern Munich, for which it is a platinum partner, Qatar Airways also recently revealed multi-year sponsorship agreements with Italian football club AS Roma and Argentinian club Boca Juniors, for which it will become the official jersey sponsor.
Qatar Airways made headline news last month at the Farnborough International Airshow 2018, with a number of high-profile announcements and award wins. The airline picked up four prestigious awards at this year’s 2018 Skytrax World Airline Awards.