Qatar Airways bolsters US presence with offices
In a bid to strengthen its presence in the USA Qatar Airways has opened an office in the US capital Washington DC.
The occasion also marked the second anniversary of Qatar Airways entering the US market with flights to New York and Washington DC direct from the airline’s hub in Doha. The airline recently added Houston as its third US gateway city.
For Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways' chief executive, the Washington visit is the beginning of a three-city tour of US hub cities, which will include the official opening of new offices in Houston and New York City. He is joined by high-level members of Qatar Airways’ management team.
Qatar Airways currently operates non-stop daily flights from Dulles International Airport in Washington, New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport to Doha.
The Washington, DC office, at 1430 K Street NW, is conveniently located near McPherson Square Metro Station. Al Baker said that the new office demonstrated Qatar Airways’ commitment to excellent customer service both on the ground and in the air, pointing out that the K Street office will serve as an important access point for customers eager to make travel plans to Doha, the rest of the Middle East and to Africa and Asia. "This month two years ago, Washington became our second US city when we began daily flights from Doha and the route has grown from strength to strength,” said Al Baker.
“We made the decision to strategically locate our new office in the central district of Washington to make it easier for business and leisure passengers to make their travel arrangements.
“Our offices are staffed by trained, dedicated and courteous professionals who are prepared to help with any travel request. Our on-the-ground customer service experience is as remarkable as our award-winning inflight Five Star experience which means excellence in all that we do with exceptional attention to detail.”
Al Baker continued: “While other airlines across the United States and around the world are scaling back on their staffing, flights and offices, Qatar Airways is completely committed to growing our presence and raising the service bar not only in America, but throughout our global network.
“At Qatar Airways, we strongly believe in offering our customers greater choice, great value for money and exceptional levels of service. The American travelling public is very demanding and very deserving and, rest assured, we deliver what we promise, focused on delivering the best levels of service.
”We look forward to the next few months with further expansion that will see new aircraft joining the fleet at an average of one a month and new routes added to our growing network," he said.
“Here, in the capital city of Washington DC and surrounding areas, there are a huge number of travellers to the Gulf and beyond, particularly to South Asia and with our new flights to Amritsar and Goa, we believe our services will appeal to the traveller looking to visit friends and family, as well as head on holiday there,” said Al Baker.
He added: “We are in the enviable position where we don’t rely on any single market, simply because of our central geographical location.
“What is happening now in the world around us is a short-term situation. What our industry peers are doing is reacting quickly to economic conditions that are either in, or out of, their control. At Qatar Airways, we are not a short-term operator that makes radical changes to business practices because of market conditions.
“Qatar Airways is in it for the long term, continuing to grow with a realistic, aggressive expansion plan.”
Qatar Airways' new Washington DC office