The Airbus A 330-200 aircraft has joined the Qatar Airways, taking the strength of its fleet to 17. The aircraft has started commercial operations with its inaugural flight in the London sector. Qatar Airways had taken delivery of the new aircraft at the Farnborough air show last month.
Qatar Airways has signed a special deal with France-based Airbus Industry to raise a fleet of eight A 330-200 aircraft. As part of the deal, the third and fourth aircraft will join the airline's fleet in February next year.
The aircraft are being custom-made for Qatar Airways in two and three class configurations. While the three-class configuration—first, business and economy—aircraft will be operated on the European routes, the two-class—business and economy—configuration aircraft will be used to service the Far East destinations.
The A 330-200 Airbus’ features include the first class cocoon seats, which can be converted into ensconced beds for total privacy, satellite telephony and advanced entertainment system. All seats in the economy class of the aircraft have 6.5-inch TV screens giving passengers strain-free viewing facility.
As part of the ongoing ambitious expansion plan, Qatar Airways has signed a deal to convert an A 300-600 aircraft into an all cargo configuration at a cost of $10 million. The second phase of the refurbishing of Doha International Airport's arrival terminal at a cost of $20 million has begun. Also work on the parking lot to raise the capacity to 1,400 cars is progressing. The new addition comes shortly after the opening of the computer-controlled aircraft parking facility at the airport.
Qatar Airways will also be flying to two new destinations, Sharjah and Hyderabad, from October this year. This will take the number of new destinations added this year to seven. The airline, one of the fastest growing in the world, had earlier in the year launched flights to Riyadh, Frankfurt, Milan, Casablanca and Sanaa.
The airline plans to add seven more destinations by this time next year and raise the number of destinations to over 50 in a couple of years. Qatar Airways has diversified into operating subsidies like Qatar Aviation Services, Qatar Duty Free, Qatar Distribution Co, Qatar Holidays and the fledgling Qatar Catering Co. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
