Qatar Airways Voted Best Business Class Airline In China
Qatar Airways has been named Best Business Class Airline in China at the China Travel & Meeting Industry Awards.
The Travel & Meeting Industry Awards is organised by Travel Weekly China, a leading trade publication in the Chinese travel industry. Since its debut in 2002, the awards have enjoyed wide recognition among industry peers.
More than 30,000 readers and subscribers of Travel Weekly China and 32,000 enterprises and travel buyers, who attended July’s China Incentive and Business Travel Meeting Exhibition (CIBTM), participated in the poll. The Five Star-ranked carrier was a clear winner at the awards ceremony held in the Chinese capital Beijing, collecting twice as many votes as any other airline
The judging panel included 20 top industry specialists from every segment of the travel and tourism industry.
Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways' CEO, said: “On behalf of Qatar Airways, it is a great honour to be recognised yet again for our high levels of service and hospitality to which we remain committed.
“We are delighted Qatar Airways is seen as the airline of choice for corporate Chinese travellers. Qatar Airways has always been proud of its outstanding business class service. Recognition from our industry peers and end users validates all the hard work and dedication from Qatar Airways’ staff to deliver a product and service that is second to none.”
Above right: Marwan Koleilat, Senior Vice President Commercial Operations East Asia & South West Pacific, Qatar Airways, collects award,
Qatar Airways has collected several major accolades, including World’s Leading Business Class carrier at the annual World Travel Awards and World’s Best Economy Class, Best Cabin Crew in the Middle East (for the seventh year running) and Best Airline in the Middle East (for the fourth consecutive year), at the annual Skytrax World Airline Awards in Hamburg in April, in which more than 16 million travellers were polled.
The airline currently operates 21 flights a week between four cities in China – Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong – and its Doha hub.
Qatar Airways operates a fleet of 69 aircraft to 82 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, South Asia, Far East and North America. The airline has outstanding orders for more than 220 aircraft worth over US$40 billion.
Over the next few months, Qatar Airways will expand its global operations with the launch of six new routes – Amritsar (October 11) and Goa (October 25) in India; Melbourne (December 6) followed soon after by Sydney marking the airline’s entry into the Australian market subject to government approval; and two other cities in Europe.
By 2013 Qatar Airways intends to almost doubklke its fleet to 110 aircraft. It has ordered 80 Airbus A350s, 24 Airbus A320 Family of aircraft, 60 Boeing 787s and 32 Boeing 777s, with deliveries of the latter having started in November 2007. The airline is one of the customers of the twin-deck Airbus A380 with five on order and scheduled for delivery from 2012: by which time the New Doha International Airport should be open.