Despite crisis, Qatar Airways sticks to plane orders, announce new service to Canberra

The ongoing illegal blockade of Qatar by its Arab neighbours does not seem to have done much to dampen Qatar Airways’ fortunes.

While the airline’s international services have remained largely unaffected, it also went on to won the prestigious Skytrax Airline of the Year award recently.

Now, Qatar Airways has confirmed that it will go ahead with the purchase of orders for planes it has already committed itself to, reported Gulf Times.     

Qatar’s Minister of Transport & Communications HE Jassim Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti said the airline continued to make money and was seeking an international ruling restoring its access to air corridors.

“We’re continuing and maybe we’ll go faster,” he said when asked about Qatar Airways’ orders from Boeing and Airbus.

The airline may not be able to meet its previous financial targets, but is “still in good shape” as it opens new routes, he added.

At a hearing on Monday, Al Sulaiti will make a case to the International Civil Aviation Organisation, a Montreal-based United Nations agency, to open six or seven international flight corridors and mitigate the economic fallout from the crisis. The request is the first of three files the country is preparing to regain air rights, he said.
Meanwhile, Qatar Airways continued its growth and expansion plans as it announced the launch of its fifth Australian destination — Canberra — in 2018, reported The Peninsula.

With Canberra, the airline will be the first international carrier to offer Australia’s capital city daily scheduled flights to Doha via Sydney.

Qatar Airways’ second-daily Sydney flight will make its way on to Canberra commencing February 2018. Return flights will be on a Canberra-Sydney-Doha routing. Canberra flights will be served by a 358-seater Boeing 777-300 aircraft.

Despite the ongoing blockade, it has been a big year for Qatar Airways, which included huge announcements like the launch of a brand new Business Class, 26 new destinations for 2017-18, impressive financial profits released in June, a huge sponsorship agreement with FIFA and ongoing billion-dollar-aircraft orders.

The intelligent redeployment of aircraft and crewto partner airlines such as British Airways and Royal Air Maroc ensures that planes do not idle, whilst reduced operational costs from the 18 affected destinations have helped to balance any perceived financial impact.