- Qatar Airways operated the world's first fully vaccinated flight on the 6th of April, 2021, beating their competitor,
Emirates, by a few days. But the Qatar flight was very different to the Emirates flight. The Qatar flight was
an invite flight only, to staff, to travel partners, and media. I think the decision
to operate that flight, obviously driven by the Group CEO, who want to put his airline
in the news headlines. Let's take a look at that flight. (upbeat music) - Welcome to the world's
first fully vaccinated flight. - [Passenger] Good morning! (both reply in foreign language) Yeah, looking forward to this flight. - We too. Very honoured to have you onboard. - So what is so special
making this flight today is it's a fully vaccinated flight, starting with the flight deck, cabin crew, passenger, even the ground staff, perhaps the (indistinct),
I don't know yet. This effort is making a
record to rejoin our back a normal life, without mask
and getting over this pandemic, and move on forward. The flying time today
two hours and a half. We will be cruising at 40,000 feet, flying over Doha, UAE, Maskat in Oman, making a U-turn to rejoin Doha. - Our call sign today is Qatari 6421, which is actually a weird number, but actually it's the date of today, which is 6th of April '21, and that to make history as
a fully vaccinated flight being done today. (plane engine rumbling) (Pilots speaking indistinctly) (engine humming) (pilots speaking indistinctly) (upbeat music) - Before on the flight, I've got a rare chance to interview the Chief of Qatar Airways. So let's hear him out. Your airline's doing very different to all the other airline this crisis. Other airlines are trimming routes, cutting out operations, grounded, but you keep flying during the pandemic. You started launching flights
instead of cutting out. You've gone to Seattle, San
Francisco, all the destinations, so what is this? Is this commercial sensible? - Sam, you know me for quite some time, and you know that I'm
a very shrewd operator. I will always take every
single opportunity I have to find revenue for my airline. And when everybody shut their door, people still want to travel, and there we are to serve them. We carried 3.8 million passengers, we repatriated them. When all the airlines left
their passengers stranded, we were there. We will always go where
we feel people need us, and we will always go where
we know there is opportunity. Frankly, we are a state-owned company, so there is no question of bailout. Whatever funding we would get
is an equity into the company. And we, the largest long-haul carrier operating in the world today, we received the lowest equity
injection of any airline, who have received billions
in state aid and subsidy. (upbeat music) - Doctor, everybody's wondering when we were able to return
to that normalcy of travel without wearing mask, the
borders will be open travelling. Do you see that, with the
vaccine, how this happening soon? - So Sam, at the moment, the advice from our
Ministry of Public Health is that we should wear masks unless we're eating or drinking, but I'm quite convinced
that with more data, and more experience, we'll know that these vaccines are actually very, very safe, and that, we will, in the future, be able to travel without masks. Well Sam, medically, we'd
like to try and vaccinate the whole world, but economically, that's not going to be viable
within the next few months. And so what we will find
is that certain countries will be able to vaccinate, and their citizens will be
able to travel more freely. It's an economic reality. - Do you require passenger
eventually to be vaccinated to onboard Qatar Airways? - Eventually, I think,
that will be a requirement for many countries. For example, Australia
will not allow people that are not vaccinated
to enter the country. If this pandemic continues, and if there is no
proper, robust treatment, I think many other countries will require that you have
a vaccination passport to get in. (upbeat music) - Today we are focusing on
serving our full lunch service for our 41 premium customers, including customers who
are in the Economy cabin. It is a full premium services for today, so I hope you will enjoy it. (upbeat music) - That is very nice because (indistinct) is giving to me up, really. - [Sam] This duck is huge! - Yes. - [Flight Attendant]
Yeah, it is very nice. - [Passenger] Very good stuff. - [Sam] Are you sure that's duck? - Amazing, amazing. - [Sam] Yeah, you're sure that's duck you're eating?
- Yeah, I'm sure (indistinct). - [Sam] Okay, okay. (Donald Duck recording) - Thank you.
(all laughing) - [Sam] Funny guy. Now, how's your flight been? - Oh, amazing fun, really. - [Sam] How much you've
travelled during the last year? - Oh, I didn't travel
during the last year. This is my first flight. - [Sam] You feel like same like before? - Oh, amazing. Especially with Qatar Airways. - I seriously cannot find the right words to describe our feelings today. Just to getting back to our
normal life, travelling. - I'm so blessed (speaks in
Spanish), for this blessing, and I'm so lucky for being in this flight with all fully vaccinated people, enjoying these beautiful blue views, and making history. (speaks in Spanish) - When you talk about an airline, people think about the
planes, maybe the food, the cabin crew, the image, the marketing, but when a lot of people
think about Qatar Airways, they think about you, His Excellency. What will Qatar Airways
be like without you? Have you ever thought about that? - We have a succession plan. You know, it is something that
I built with the full support of my rulers, and the
goodwill of the Qatari people. And it is my duty to have a
robust succession plan in place, which is already there. So if I'm there or not, Qatar Airways, is a brand of my country, will continue. And you know, all leaders, all managers, all heads of department, come and go, but the organisation still continue. And this is what will
happen with Qatar Airways. Till the last day I am on this chair, as the Group Chief Executive, I will continue to do my
service towards my country, and the mandate given to me
by His Highness, my ruler. - Flights are resuming back
to Saudi Arabia, to UAE, what's that mean for Qatar
Airways from now at this point? - Well, it is a very positive
development that happened. We persevered during the difficult days, now we are back into the mainstream. Our operating costs
have started to reduce, what it really should be, and we hope that business for all of us, all the blockading countries
together, comes to normalcy, because I don't think
that within families, this kind of animosity,
or bullying, is not fair. And at the end, everybody realised it was in the best interest
to end this blockade, and, you know, get our
lives back to normal. (upbeat music) - This experience has been a reminder of what life used to be
like before the pandemic. So it was a nice change to
be able to cover something that has a positive (indistinct)
as a positive light. - I travel quite a lot, and travelling on a fully
vaccinated flight is marvellous, frankly, because I'd rather travel with people that are vaccinated. And, I think, I'm 70 plus, and I don't have enough
of my life, going forward, to be stuck going nowhere. - I'm Valerie from Trusted Travel Girl, and I came all the way from
New York to Doha, last minute. I found out the day before I left, and I'm so excited to be here. This is so much better, and of course, I feel so much safer. Look at this, I have my
own private little area where I feel really safe, protected, and away from everybody. (upbeat music) - What about the future of the A380? Is there any plan to
use some of them back? - Frankly, Sam, we have
already taken impairment on five of them, so we are writing off
five of the 10 we have, and if the pandemic continues to extend, we may, over the next
two, three years period, take impairment on the remaining five. I don't think, and I
have been telling this for much before the pandemic, there is no future for the A380. It was a wrong aeroplane
in the wrong time. It is something that passengers love. They like to travel on an A380. It's very quiet, it's very spacious, but at the end of the
day, for the operator, it's really painful. The operating cost, the maintenance cost, the maintenance period. You know, you put a 380 for a C check, it is three times what a 777 will take, or a 350-1000 will take. You know, if you look at
the fuel burn per seat mile, it's way above any other
aeroplane that is flying today. And, you know, it is
the aim of Qatar Airways to keep on growing, and being
carbon neutral in our growth, that aeroplane doesn't help us. And I think, not only
that it is inefficient, and some people still brag that they're going to start operating, and it's a very fine aeroplane, let's see how long they
will be able to sustain. And after the pandemic,
there is a huge movement on the green front. Passengers will not want
to get into an aeroplane that has high pollution rating. So, you know, we need to do... And in Qatar Airways, if
tomorrow they produce an aircraft that has a more efficient fuel burn, we will immediately place order for those aeroplanes . (soft music) - So Mr. Chui, how was the experience? - [Sam] Good, just like any
other Qatari Airways flight. No less, no more. - And, hopefully, next
time we will see you without the mask, and everything
will be normal. (laughs) - [Sam] Thank you so much. (plane engine humming) (mechanical voice counting down) - Like everyone has been
asking, and thinking, do we really need to be
fully vaccinated to travel, to fly in the future? To me, I think that requirement is not mandated by the airline, but is more depends on
the destination country. Right now, we are seeing
quite a few country wanting to reopen to accept
fully vaccinated tourists only. So we're still in this early stage, developing solution, hoping to see more
light out of the tunnel, and I will be continue to document how aviation respond to the COVID crisis. Thanks for watching today.
