The Hindu Business Line : Qatar Airways in talks for more flights out of India

For this, the Government of Qatar is in talks with the Government of India, Qatar Airways’ Chief Executive Officer, Mr Akbar Al Baker, told a press conference here on Thursday.

For the 13-year-old Qatar Airways, India (along with China) is a big market. It already connects to seven Indian cities and will launch its Ahmedabad-Doha operations on December 12.

Being from a small country, Qatar Airways (which is half-owned by the State) intends to position itself as an international carrier, like Singapore Airlines.

Today, it connects Doha to 80 cities across the world and plans to fly into more destinations.

Boeing 777s delivered

In summer 2007, it launched its flights to Washington DC and New York, and will link-up other US cities in the coming few years.

Towards this end, it has ordered for 32 Boeing 777 (extended range, long range and long range freighters), the first of which was delivered on Thursday.

Addressing a group of newspersons at the function that was held to occasionalise the delivery of the first Boeing 777, Mr Al Baker said that the airline would increase its fleet strength from (all-Airbus) 58 to 110 by 2015.

The bill runs into upwards of $15 billion, but Mr Al Baker says, no problem, the principal shareholder, Government of Qatar, inspires enough confidence among bankers to fund the deals.

Keen on India

India is seen as a big provider of passengers.

Apart from the metros, Qatar Airways operates two flights a week out of Nagpur. Officials of the airline say that a large chunk of central India is a good catchment area.

Qatar Airways is also interested in introducing flights out of, among other cities, Amritsar and Bangalore.

“It will be my delight to have further bilateral talks with Indian authorities for additional frequencies and additional destinations,” Mr Al Baker said.

Premium terminal facilities

Today, most Indians travelling to the US, use one of the European carriers. Qatar Airways wants to position itself as a better alternative, especially for the upper class passengers.

Towards this, it showcases its in-flight hospitality and its premium terminal facilities at Doha. The terminal was built recently at a cost of $90 million and features all the facilities of a 5-star hotel, including a spa, sauna and Jacuzzi.

Nagpur repair centre

Asked if Qatar Airways (which would have a large fleet of Boeings in a few years) would use Boeing’s upcoming maintenance, repair overhaul (MRO) centre at Nagpur, despite the fact that the airline is building a huge service centre for its aircraft in Doha, Mr Al Baker replied in the affirmative.

“We are very happy that Boeing is putting up its MRO at Nagpur. These facilities will be by Qatar Airways. Yes, we are building a huge aircraft maintenance facility at the upcoming Doha international airport, which will have the capacity to handle 13 aircraft at a time.

Still, with over 120 airplanes in its fleet, we will always have the opportunity to use the facilities that are being built in Nagpur,” he said.

Incidentally, Qatar Airways employs a large number of Indians — around 600 of its total employees of 2,500 are Indians.