The FINANCIAL — Qatar Airways kicked off its 2009 calendar of international exhibitions by participating at FITUR, the largest travel and tourism show in Spain.
For the fifth year running, the award-winning airline was in the Spanish capital Madrid for one of the biggest tourism fairs in the world and the most important exhibition for Latin America. The annual event attracts the crème de la crème of the international travel industry, from airlines, hotels, car rental companies and tourist boards to travel agents, tour operators and media from around the Iberian peninsula and rest of the world.
According to Qatar Airways, the five-day international show provided Qatar Airways with the opportunity to showcase its award-winning Five Star hospitality to 65,000 visitors and more than 150,000 trade participants. At FITUR, Qatar Airways exhibited a 100sqm stand, and wooed visitors with Arabic entertainment including traditional drummers, who provided buzz and excitement.
The airline also displayed its spacious Business Class seat used across its state-of-the-art Airbus A330 aircraft, the backbone of Qatar Airways’ young and wide-body fleet.
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said: “Being the first and only Gulf carrier flying to Spain, Qatar Airways was proud to be present at FITUR once again.
“This highly interesting platform is a great opportunity to showcase our achievements and developments of the past year and to build and renew our relationships with customers, the travel trade and key industry decision makers.”
From Madrid to Doha, Qatar Airways operates four flights a week and offers convenient connections to many exciting destinations around the world. The Madrid route launched in December 2005 is served with an A330-200, which provides excellent levels of comfort and a superior inflight-entertainment product.
Qatar Airways is very committed to the Spanish market and recently localised its global website to offer increased customer convenience to Spanish customers.
Bearing in mind that Spanish is among the world’s most widely spoken languages, the launch of the Spanish website qatarairways.com/es shows that the airline places great emphasis on improving website accessibility and usability as well as on providing a more localised, country-specific online experience.
In addition, Qatar Airways also launched an online service check-in facility in Spain, which has been well-received by the Spanish travelling public. The new facility cuts time for passengers at the airport and allows them to either drop off baggage at the Fast Bag Drop counters, or if only carrying hand luggage, to pass through immigration and straight to the gate. This new consumer offering ensures that Spanish speaking customers will feel more comfortable to book and pay online through qatarairways.com/es.
With a fleet of 65 Airbus and Boeing aircraft, Qatar Airways operates to 83 destinations worldwide from its operational hub of Doha, capital of the State of Qatar. Soon the Five Star carrier will add Houston to its ever growing network, which is the airline’s first foray into America’s southern states. On March 30th Qatar Airways launches non-stop flights between Doha and Houston and will create a new link between the global energy centres of Texas and the Gulf States.
