Travel industry Oscar for Qatar Airways
Qatar Airways has landed yet another travel industry gong (Inflight Online, November 25), taking the laurels for best business class at last week’s World Travel Awards final.
Qatar was awarded a travel industry “Oscar” following an international survey of professionals in the travel and tourism industry that placed the Middle Eastern carrier best in its region, for the second year running, and then best in the world. This latest accolade brings Qatar’s silverware haul to ten in the year to date.
“Our 2008 tally of industry honours shows that our efforts to provide a superior service both in the air and on the ground have been recognised,” said chief executive Akbar Al-Baker. “We are extremely proud of our business-class product. This award recognises that it is superior to those of our competition, and that we continue to lead in offering the most innovative premium services.”
Qatar Airways operates a total fleet of 64 Airbus and Boeing aircraft serving 83 cities across Europe, Middle East, Africa, South Asia, the Far East and North America. It has on order 80 Airbus A350s and five A380s, plus 60 Boeing 787s.
The airline has ordered Panasonic’s eX2 audio/video-on-demand IFE system for its planned fleet of 32 Boeing 777-200LRs and -300ERs, the first of which was delivered just over 12 months ago.