The award-winning airline is one of the fastest growing carriers in the world with unprecedented expansion averaging almost 40 per cent year on year. From its perfectly positioned Middle East hub in Doha, the airline has developed a global network of destinations, covering Europe, Middle East, Africa, South Asia, Far East, North America and Australia.

Since its relaunch in 1997 when it had just four aircraft, Qatar Airways has achieved staggering growth in fleet size and passenger numbers and currently carries around 12 million passengers annually and has more than 70 aircraft covering over 80 destinations worldwide. By 2013, the fleet size will almost double to 110 aircraft and destinations served exceed 120 key business and leisure cities.

One of only a few carriers ranked ‘Five Star’ for service and excellence by Skytrax, the independent aviation industry monitoring agency, the airline is renowned for it’s premium and first class product and in 2009 won Best Business Class in the World at the World Travel Awards. Skytrax has also, for the past seven years, voted the airline’s cabin crew Best in the Middle East and Best Airline in the Middle East for four consecutive years. Economy Class was also voted Best in the World in the annual Skytrax passenger survey, in which more than 16 million travellers are polled. The Airline is acclaimed for having the world’s only dedicated First and Business Class Terminal at its hub at Doha International Airport.

Qatar Airways also has a highly successful Q-Biz programme, which allows small and medium-sized companies and their employees to jointly earn frequent flyer air miles from the airline’s Privilege Club loyalty programme for their flights. Companies can then redeem their miles against free tickets or upgrades on the airline which represents a cost saving to the company.

Qatar Airways is committed to doing its part to make the world a better place for future generations and takes its responsibility for protecting the environment very seriously - it has one of the lowest carbon footprints in the industry. The airline made aviation history in October 2009 when it operated the world’s first commercial flight utilising a 50/50 blend of Gas-to-Liquid fuel. Since then Qatar Airways, together with Qatar Science and Technology Park, Qatar Petroleum and Airbus has launched the “Qatar Advanced Biofuel Platform” for the research, development and production of 2nd and 3rd generation biofuels. This is a long-term investment into the reduction of GHG emissions and now also includes Qatar University and Rolls Royce. Qatar Airways has also invested heavily in the New Doha International Airport, its future hub due to open in 2011, which will be a masterpiece in environmental engineering.

To book on Qatar Airways, please contact your Statesman Travel consultant.