Qatar Airways to host World Travel and Tourism Council's 2004 Annual Conference

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Mr Akbar Al Baker announced today that Qatar Airways would host the annual conference in Doha next spring.

Mr Al Baker recently returned from the WTTC's Third Global Travel and Tourism Summit in Portugal, where Doha was announced as the host for the 2004 annual conference.

"To be able to host the 2004 annual conference of the WTTC in Doha is a huge coup for Qatar," said Mr Al Baker.

"The WTTC represents 100 of the world's foremost tourism and travel companies, including major airlines, major hotel chains, and major tour operators.

"Qatar Airways has ensured that these key tourism decision makers will get first hand knowledge of Qatar and the opportunities that Qatar represents to the tourism industry.

"We're going to use this opportunity to show the world's top tourism operators the Arabic hospitality that Qatar is renowned for.

"We're also going to use this opportunity to establish lasting relationships with members of this key organisation, so we can position Qatar to take advantage of future tourism growth.

"While dates for the annual conference have yet to be confirmed, we will be hosting the WTTC annual conference, and its executive committee meeting in the spring of 2004," said Mr Al Baker.

Qatar Airways has proved itself to be one of the fastest growing airlines in the world. In the last year alone, it recorded sales revenue 12 per cent higher than forecasts — despite the downtrend in the international aviation industry.

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

As part of this growth plan, Qatar Airways will extend its route network to 50 destinations by the end of 2003. It presently flies to 40 destinations. It has recently added Manchester, Rome, and Kochi to its increasing route network. It will begin flights to Moscow in August.

Qatar Airways is also increasing its fleet. It presently has 23 new Airbus aircraft, which will increase to 28 by the end of this year. Qatar Airways recently announced that it would take delivery of a long range A319 corporate jetliner. It is also one of the launch customers for the A380 'super jumbo' 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.