Qatar Airways exhibits with dedicated stand for first time at premier travel show

The airline, national carrier of the State of Qatar in the Arabian Gulf, operates scheduled flights from the capital Doha to 53 destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Indian subcontinent and the Far East. By the end of 2005, the airline will serve at least 70 destinations, including cities in North America and Australia.

During WTM, Qatar Airways will be promoting its new winter 2004/2005 destinations from Doha.

Over the next three months, six exciting new routes - Beijing, Seychelles, London Gatwick, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Yangon - will be added to the global network from Doha, further positioning Qatar Airways as a truly international brand.

The new routes and schedules starting from Doha this winter are:

Beijing, 3 times a week, beginning 25 November 2004
London Gatwick, daily, beginning 26 November 2004
Seychelles, 4 times a week, beginning 1 December 2004
Yangon, 4 times a week, beginning 8 January 2005
Johannesburg, 4 times a week, beginning 16 January 2005
Cape Town, 4 times a week, beginning 16 January 2005

A visiting delegation from head office in Doha led by Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker will be attending the four-day show, one of the world's premier travel trade events, being held at the Excel Exhibition Centre in the Docklands, east London.

The new two-tier exhibition stand features a reception desk with seating area for meetings and presentations, together with a refreshment area where Qatar Airways cabin crew will be serving Arabic coffee and dates.

On the upper deck there is a VIP area for meetings. The stand also has a 6 metre curved graphic feature wall in Qatar Airways' corporate colours of burgundy and grey.

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer, Akbar Al Baker said WTM presented a perfect opportunity to showcase the airline to a global audience under one roof.

"World Travel Market is one of the world's leading travel industry events," he said, adding: "We are pleased to have our own stand at the show for the first time because the airline is growing at a phenomenal pace opening up new routes and adding new and modern aircraft.

"Qatar Airways is spreading its wings to exciting new global destinations to cater for growing demand from a diverse group of business and leisure travellers."

Qatar Airways launched operations in 1997 with only four aircraft - today it operates a fleet of 36 all-Airbus aircraft averaging less than three years old. The fleet will nearly double in size over the next few years following a $5.1bn order for 34 additional Airbus jets.

The airline has won a string of accolades during 2004, including three awards from Skytrax, an independent aviation quality monitoring agency.

These include ranking Qatar Airways' cabin crew as the best in the Middle East and fifth best in the world following an annual survey of more than two million passengers comprising 93 different nationalities. Crew were assessed on service delivery, efficiency, attentiveness, friendliness, presentation and consistency.

Skytrax also placed Qatar Airways 8th best in the world in the inflight entertainment category, just months after the airline received a Five Star ranking - Skytrax's highest accolade for airline service - joining an elite club of only two other carriers to have earned such recognition.

During the 2003/2004 financial year, Qatar Airways carried 3.3m passengers, up 35% on the previous 12-month period. Passenger numbers are projected to rise sharply in the 2004/2005 period to 4.5m.