The Incredible Rise Of Qatar Airways

qatar airways has grown rapidly since its founding in 1993 from a passenger fleet of just two aircraft to 231 today in 2019 it was the 11th largest airline globally by passengers carried but what does the future hold for qatar airways and where will it head next established in 1993 by the royal family of qatar qatar airways was relaunched in 1997 and led by chief executive mr akbar al-bakr he's remained in the role ever since the airline started operations in january 1994 using just one leased airbus a310 aircraft this had previously been in service with kuwait airways and was seized by iraq in 1990 its first destinations were regional including amman cairo dubai muscat and khartoum with routes further afield to bangkok tokyo and osaka a second leased a310 joined in june that same year which had also previously flown with kuwait airways these two aircraft only stayed with qatar airways until mid 1995 because as its routes grew so did its fleet the airline's first fleet expansion came with the 747 in 1995 it purchased two 747 100 aircraft which had previously flown with japanese airline a a and were 747 sr variants meaning a reduced fuel volume and range but increased passenger capacity an additional 747 was acquired from air mauritius in 1996 this was a 747 sp model with a shortened fuselage but increased range over the 747 100 variants already in the fleet the original a310s were retired in 1995 and these 747s became the main long-haul aircraft for a while in addition to these the airline also operated the boeing 727 for some regional services the 747s were replaced in 1997 with a 300 600 aircraft the first two released in march 1997 they previously flew with garuda indonesia then with ansett worldwide between 2000 and 2003 six more passenger a300s joined the fleet five of them leased fleet expansion by this point was well underway qatar airways stopped with airbus for a new narrow body fleet as well it ordered the a320 in 1998 which entered service from 2009 but were preceded by many leased aircraft from 1999 the last two decades have seen a continual expansion in qatar airways fleet as well as destinations served it has grown to become a major hub-based carrier for east west routes similar to emirates and etihad which have followed a similar trajectory the early part of this expansion saw qatar sticking entirely with airbus but it has since moved to a joint airbus and boeing fleet it ordered its first two a380 aircraft in 2001 and in 2003 it placed an impressive 5.1 billion order with airbus for 32 aircraft including the a330 200 a330 300 and a340 as well as more a320s according to reporting by flight global the airline had been considering both the boeing triple 7 and the a340 600 but decided on the a340 after it passed the airline's evaluations its all airbus fleet lasted until 2007 when it placed a 13.5 billion dollar order with boeing for seven eight seven eight aircraft and twenty seven triple sevens both passenger and freighter models it also confirmed an order with airbus in the same year for 80 a350 aircraft and its first a380s these large orders demonstrate its confidence in its future growth in 2011 at the dubai air show these orders were expanded the airline increased its airbus order to include 50 a320 neo aircraft and five more a380s in 2016 it ordered more 787 and triple seven 300 er aircraft with boeing and it has 60 777x aircraft on order right now in april 2011 qatar airways reached the milestone of 100 destinations served and it has continued growing this network today reaching over 130 cities worldwide it ranked fifth globally for the number of countries served by 2019 with a presence in 78 countries for comparison turkish airlines occupied the number one spot with 121 countries served additionally for a time qatar also operated the longest flight in the world from doha to auckland which has only been beaten by singapore airlines flights to new york with the a350 ulr the airline joined the one world alliance in 2013 which was a particularly noteworthy move as it was and remains the only one of the major middle eastern airlines to join an alliance emirates and etiada followed a model of direct partnership instead of formal alliances it has been committed to one world but it has not all been straightforward it came close to leaving in 2019 following disagreements with american airlines and qantas qatar believed that american airlines was making claims against it to the u.s government and that qantas was trying to block qatar's expansion into australia however the situation has calmed since then meanwhile alaska airlines membership in the alliance in 2021 is great news for qatar airways it has already announced a new service to seattle and has expressed optimism about the possibilities of that partnership as well as growing the airline's fleet and destinations served qatar airways has also been active in investing in other carriers which has given the company a surprising diversification outside its base of qatar there have also been rumors of another major acquisition possibly in north america but this has not been confirmed at present qatar airways investments include a 25.1 stake in iag british airways air lingus and iberia 10 percent of lat am airlines a 9.99 share in cathay pacific 5 stake in china southern airlines and 49 percent of rwanda in 2014 qatar also tried its hand at launching another regional airline al-maha airways was a planned fully owned airline operating in saudi arabia and it acquired and painted for a320 aircraft but plans were dropped in 2017 amidst the qatar's diplomatic crisis this period also saw qatar airways aircraft banned from several countries airspace a situation that was only resolved in 2021 qatar airways has remained one of the most active airlines through the slowdown in 2020 and beyond simpleflying looked at this in july 2020 noting that it was using its full fleet of 3787s and 49 a350s at the time repatriation was a large part of its operations but the airline stayed agile with routes and fleet to keep flying in may 2021 simple flying spoke to chief executive mr akbar al-bakar about this decision we can never accept to leave our passengers stranded in such a trying time yes we took a risk we lost money we gave 1.8 billion u.s dollars worth of refunds without any question in a very very quick manner because we wanted people to know that other airways was there for them in good times and in bad times and this is how we repatriate it as a matter of fact 3.1 million passengers to see the entire interview check out our sister channel simple flying in 2020 during the global slowdown only qatar airways a380 and a330s were completely grounded and it has since gone on to confirm that five of its 10 a380s will not return to service this is not just due to the slowdown however the airline has also been unhappy with the emissions of the super jumbo compared to the a350 this of course is not unexpected emirates may be planning to return its full fleet to service in 2021 but many other airlines are struggling to see the need for the a380 when they have other aircraft available as of june 2021 qatar airways has 231 aircraft in its fleet this is made up of 32 aircraft in the a320 family seven a330 200s and eight a330 300s all parked currently 34 a350 900 aircraft 19 a350 1000s 10 a380s though all are currently parked with five confirmed to retire nine triple seven 200 lr 2407 200 f and 48 triple seven 300 er aircraft thirty seven eight seven eight and seven seven eight seven nines as well as two seven four seven eight f's and there are plenty more aircraft on the way before the pandemic we looked at how the airline was due to take delivery of a record 40 new aircraft in 2020 up from 35 and 36 in the years before while it has since tried to slow this the order book remained strong its narrow body fleet is getting a renewal with 50 a321 neo aircraft switch from the original order for a320 neo aircraft 10 of these will be a321lr aircraft opening up some interesting longer routes for narrow bodies these should start to enter service from 2022 there are also 23 a350 1000 and 237879 aircraft still to enter service and of course its triple seven x are yet to arrive with delays to the triple seven x program the aircraft is not expected to enter service now until 2024 but with 60 aircraft on order qatar is set to operate the second largest fleet behind emirates who have 115 on order and despite the huge growth in routes there is room for more simple flying looked at how this expansion was continuing in 2020 new routes launched just in 2019 included gaborone botswana mogadishu somalia robot morocco valletta malta lisbon portugal the vowel philippines langkawi malaysia and izmir turkey and routes being looked at for 2021 include almaty kazakhstan dubrovnik croatia leon france nur sultan kazakhstan osaka japan santorini greece siem reap cambodia and trabzon turkey there's also plenty of scope for more services to the americas in south america qatar only operates passenger services to sao paulo brazil and buenos aires argentina with latam's departure from one world there are possibilities to expand here and in the u.s there are several major hubs it does not serve a new co-sharing agreement with american airlines may move things about there are plenty more opportunities in asia too with many large cities in japan and china not yet served and although africa has already been a big focus for qatar airways when you consider the incredible rise of airlines such as ethiopian airlines there are certainly more possibilities there qatar airways has seen incredible growth in both aircraft and route served in the past 20 to 30 years where do you think they should fly next feel free to discuss your thoughts in the comments and if you like this video be sure to hit that subscribe button and don't forget to click the notification bell did you know that we publish over 175 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Channel: Long Haul by Simple Flying

Views: 180,779

Keywords: aviation, flying, flight, boeing, airbus, planes, aircraft, 737, 747, 757, 767, 777, 777x, a320, a321, airbus a380, a380, airports, american airlines, united airlines, delta airlines, british airways

Id: mJvEV_ATv_g

Length: 13min 14sec (794 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 08 2021