QATAR AIRWAYS MAKES WAVES AT THE DUBAI AIRSHOW
(Posted 08th November 2015)
Qatar Airways Dreamliner number 25 flew straight from the delivery ceremony in the United States to the Dubai Airshow at the Dubai World Central airport in Jebel Ali, aka Maktoum International Airport, to join two other state of the art aircraft, an Airbus A380 and an Airbus A350XWB for display at the largest airshow in the Gulf region.
(Third right) H.E. Excellency Mr. Jassim Seif Ahmed Al Sulaiti, Qatar’s Minister of Transport, (Fourth right) H.E. Mr. Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways GCEO, (Second right) Mr. Abdullah bin Nasser Turki Al-Subaey, QCAA Chairman, (Fifth right) H.E. Mr. Hadi Nassir Mansour Alhajri, Qatar’s Ambassador to the UAE, (Left) Sheikh Jabor bin Hamad Al Thani, Director General of Qatar Aeronautical College, and (right) Mohammed Al Hajri, Director of the Office of the Minister of Transport.
Launched in 1986 is the show now nearly 30 years ‘old’ and has become a focal point for the global aviation media where more than in many other places innovation and large orders make headlines.
While none of the airline’s East Africa destinations is served by wide body equipment at this time, can passengers originating from Entebbe, Kigali, Nairobi, Kilimanjaro, Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar look forward to their onward connections at the glass, steel and marble super airport in Doha, Hamad International, to transfer for their long haul flights on the airline’s A380’s, A350’s, B787 Dreamliners and the B777’s to reach their final destinations.
With carefully crafted, highly-customised interiors, the airline’s range of aircraft drew massive crowds to see the latest entrants into the Qatar Airways fleet, the A350 and the A380. The A380 entered service with Qatar Airways last autumn and Qatar Airways received the A350 as Global Launch Customer in December 2014 with the global aviation media invited to the launch event in early January this year.
The A350, which entered service a few days after the launch event, now flies double-daily to Frankfurt, triple-daily to Singapore and daily to Munich. The Business Class cabin offers an unprecedented space for passengers with just 36 seats in a 1-2-1 configuration featuring an 80-inch full flat bed and 17-inch HD in-flight entertainment screen and a spacious inflight bar. Economy Class features 247 18-inch wide seats in a 3-3-3 configuration, each with a 10.6-inch in-flight entertainment screen, and more space at shoulder level for passengers in window seats due to the vertical side wall panel design.
The 517-seat A380 aircraft comprising of First, Business and Economy Class over two decks, is the largest passenger jet in the world, and currently flies from the airline’s hub in Doha to Bangkok, Paris and London. The new First Class A380 features a seat with a 90-inch pitch that transforms into a fully-flat bed and has up to 2,000 entertainment options displayed on individual HD 26-inch television screens.
Qatar Airways’ Boeing 787 Dreamliner has a two-cabin configuration, comprising of 22 seats in Business Class and 232 Economy Class seats with a class-leading standard of comfort on board, including individual 10.6-inch television screens for all Economy Class seats and an award-winning food and beverage service.
Qatar Airways was earlier this year once again awarded five star ranking by Skytrax besides being named the World’s Best Airline, the World’s Best Business Class Airline and the Best Airline in the Middle East.
With now 170 aircraft on the group’s fleet does Qatar Airways in the meantime serve some 152 destinations on all continents.
