‘OUR NEW BUSINESS CLASS SEATS WILL MAKE FIRST CLASS OBSOLETE‘
(Posted 27th February 2017)
When Qatar Airways presented their first Airbus A350XWB as global launch customer, did Group CEO Mr. Akbar Al Baker say to the invited aviation media from around the world ‘… when we launch our new business class seat which is now under development, it will make First Class obsolete‘.
That was in January 2015 and now, two years and a bit down the road has the airline patented a seat so complex and full of features, that corporate security at the manufacturers has been significantly stepped up, as will the transport route to Berlin be secured from beginning to end, to avoid corporate spies and paparazzi get a glimpse of it before the moment of public revelation comes.
The Five Star airline has recently announced that the upcoming ITB 2017 will be the launch platform to present this innovative new seat to the global tourism and aviation fraternity, as usual with the proverbial ‘Big Bang‘ to draw the global media spotlight on the airline like few times before.
On the 08th of March will the long wait of both friends and foes come to an end when Mr. Akbar Al Baker will himself present a seat product, which will be second to none in the skies around the world.
Guests and visitors to ITB Berlin will be invited to relax in the new Business Class seat at the airline’s exhibition stand in Hall 2.2, booth 208. The booth will offer visitors the opportunity to experience the comfort, entertainment and hospitality offered on board a Qatar Airways flight.
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Mr. Akbar Al Baker said when making the announcement: ‘I am delighted to officially announce that this year’s ITB exhibition will be the location at which we will premier our much-anticipated new Business Class product. As an airline we strive to offer our passengers the very best, not only in terms of our world class on board experience, but also our expanding global network. At this year’s ITB I look forward to sharing the revolutionary new patented Business Class seat with the travel industry and worldwide media, alongside many other new and exciting developments to our network‘. Qatar Airways operates 35 weekly flights to Germany, a country that continues to play an important role in the growth of Qatar Airways, departing from Hamad International Airport to Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin from a network of more than 150 destinations worldwide.
In Eastern Africa does Qatar Airways serve Entebbe and Kigali but also Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar.
However, Qatar Airways has so far been blocked by the Kenyan authorities to gain access to Mombasa despite of desperate pleas by the Kenya coast tourism and hospitality sectors to allow a truly global carrier bring much needed tourists to some of the country’s award winning beaches and resorts.
While top tourism sector sources during the Magical Kenya Travel Expo last year indicated that both Qatar Airways and FlyDubai would be given traffic rights to Mombasa, have statements made more recently by top officials in the Ministry of Transport sang from a different hymn sheet when announcing that not only would the existing Bilateral Air Service Agreement with the UAE be dishonoured – Emirates was denied a third daily flight which could have brought over 50.000 extra visitors to Kenya – but also that dozens of applications from airlines for the use of larger aircraft and for more frequencies have been put on ice.
