Qatar Airways records 10 per cent sales revenue growth

Addressing the airline's annual commercial conference in Doha today, Qatar Airways' Chief Executive Officer, Akbar Al Baker, said during 2002/2003 the carrier continued to exceed performance targets.

"In the last year, Qatar Airways carried more than 2.5 million passengers from destinations across Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, the Indian Sub-continent and the Far East," said Al Baker. "This was well in excess of our projected target of 2.2 million passengers.

"It is also indicative of the airline's growth that last month, with the Iraq conflict at its peak, Qatar Airways exceeded its forecasted passenger load."

Al Baker revealed that the airline's sales revenue produced strong growth with a 10% increase on its annual target. Cargo revenues also performed well, producing 12% growth on forecasts.

"Cargo revenue growth is largely a result of improvements in service levels and greater capacity," said Al Baker. "With the addition of the new Qatar Airways freighter in July, we forecast very significant cargo growth in the coming year."

In the past financial year, Qatar Airways also significantly expanded its route network to 40 destinations.

"We also made a large investment in new aircraft," explained Al Baker. "At the start of last year we were operating 12 aircraft. We now have a fleet of 23, which will grow to 28 by the end of this year."

Building on a reputation for premium service, Qatar Airways has launched an aggressive growth plan to ensure it can offer people a greater choice of destinations, more flights, and the latest in-flight products and services.

As part of the plan, Qatar Airways will extend its route network to 50 destinations by the end of this year.

Qatar Airways recently announced the delivery of a new A330-200 and A320-200. It will shortly take delivery of a long-range A319 corporate jetliner and is one of the launch customers for the A380 'super jumbo' scheduled for delivery in 2007.

Qatar Airways also operates a number of subsidiary companies, including: Qatar Aviation Services, Qatar Aviation Catering Company, Qatar Airways Holidays, Doha International Airport and Qatar Duty Free.

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