Qatar Airways is finding the right balance between passenger and cargo demand in the new COVID-19 world and is operating its full fleet of Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 aircraft, helping take people home safely and providing airfreight capacity to support global trade.
The airline is the largest operator of A350 series aircraft and was the launch customer for both the A350-900 and A350-1000. With a total of 49 A350 variants in the current fleet at an average age of 2.5 years and a seating capacity-optimized for the current market, the A350 is perfectly positioned to lead the airline’s rebuilding of its network.
The 30 Boeing 787 aircraft in the Qatar Airways fleet also provide appropriate capacity to offer the right capacity on routes in Europe while markets recover.
Both the 787 and A350 are leaders in the lowest environmental impact.
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker said: “Qatar Airways Group has a strong record of industry leadership on sustainable operations. We take our responsibilities to care for the environment seriously and sustainability is at the forefront of our business planning across the group, this is why we have an average fleet age of less than five years, one of the youngest in the world.”
“Thanks to our strategic and diversified investment in our fleet, the viability of our operations have not been dependent on any specific aircraft type. This has enabled us to be one of the few global airlines to never stop operating during this crisis, carrying over two million passengers and in the process becoming the largest international airline in the world, said Mr Al Baker.
Qatar Airways assures passengers that they rely on “an honest schedule of flights to take them where they want to go, using the right size aircraft to offer sensible capacity on each route.”
Mr Al Baker said that Qatar Airways we “will not resume flying our fleet of A380 until demand returns to appropriate levels. Having closely studied the environmental impact numbers, flying such a large aircraft with a low load factor does not meet our environmental responsibilities or make commercial sense. Our young fleet of Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 aircraft are a much better fit for current global demand.”
Qatar Airways was the first airline in the Middle East to secure accreditation to the highest level in the IATA Environmental Assessment Programme. While its home and hub, Hamad International Airport, will be the first airport in the region to achieve a 4-star Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) rating as part of plans to expand its capacity to more than 53 million passengers annually by 2022.
Qatar Airways has found that compared to the four-engine A380 superjumbo the twin-engine A350 saved a minimum of 16 tonnes of carbon dioxide per block hour,
Globally, Qatar Airways relaunched 11 destinations on 1 July including Bali Denpasar, Beirut, Belgrade, Berlin, Boston, Edinburgh, Larnaca, Los Angeles, Prague, Washington DC, and Zagreb. This marks the largest number of route resumptions in a single day since Qatar Airways started to rebuild its network in what the airline has dubbed ‘Takeoff Wednesday’. By the end of July, its network will expand to more than 450 weekly flights to over 70 destinations worldwide.
To ensure travellers can plan their travel with peace of mind, the airline has extended its booking policies to offer even more choice to its passengers. The airline will allow unlimited date changes, and passengers can change their destination as often as they need if it is within 5,000 miles of the original destination. The airline will not charge any fare differences for travel completed before 31 December 2020, after which fare rules will apply. All tickets booked for travel up to 31 December 2020 will be valid for two years from the date of issuance. For full terms and conditions visit www.qatarairways.com/RelyOnUs.
Qatar Airways Environment website can be found here.
