From the initial daily flights a week in 2006 to the current twelve flights a week using an A320 single-isle aircraft in a span of five years is really no mean feat and goes to demonstrate all too well that QR had done its numbers pretty well while deploying the right marketing strategies to be where it is today. Indeed, QR has earned market respect in this country, in a relatively short time, to be in the same league with the likes of Emirates, KLM and British Airways. On some occasions I have witnessed some of the Emirates Airlines dyed-in-the-wool customers switch to QR, though reluctantly, after testing the latters product.
Qatar Airways Company Q.C.S.C operating as Qatar Airways is the flag carrier of Qatar. Qatar Airways was established on November 22, 1993. The airline started operations on January 20, 1994 using a wet-leased Boeing 767-200ER from Kuwait Airways. It was originally owned by private members of the royal family of Qatar. However, it was re-launched in 1997, under a new management team. Currently, the Government of Qatar holds 50% stake of Qatar Airways and the rest is held by private investors.
It must be recalled that Qatar was originally part of the countries that jointly owned Gulf Air (GF) in partnership with Abu Dhabi, Oman and Bahrain but the three chickened out of GF with Bahrain remaining the sole shareholder in a once upon a time regional airline powerhouse. Abu Dhabi went ahead to establish Etihad Airways while Oman strengthened Oman Air.
Headquartered in the Qatar Airways Tower in Doha, QR just like Emirates Airlines operates a hub-and-spoke network, linking over 95 international destinations from its base in Doha, using a fleet of 96 aircraft. Over the years, Qatar Airways has grown into one of the most competitive airlines in the world. For instance, it is one of only six airlines awarded a 5-star rating by Skytrax ( a UK based aviation outfit ) along with Cathay Pacific, Asiana Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Kingfisher Airlines. So the advert on the British Television channel namely SKY Tv regarding QR being a 5-star airline is not just sheer bravado or blowing its own trumpet but concrete results as a top-notch service provider.
QR growth over the years has really been phenomenal. For example in 2010 the airline launched 10 new destinations including Ankara, Bangalore, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Copenhagen, Hanoi, Nice, Phuket, São Paulo and Tokyo and some are in the pipeline including Aleppo, Bucharest, Budapest, Brussels, and Stuttgart. Interestingly in spite of a high quality product QR offers to the market, the airline is one of the most competitive carriers from the pricing point of view. Its no secret that QR, for example, is relatively better priced to almost all destinations from Dar es Salaam compared to its nearest competitor-Emirates Airlines.
QR also doubles in airfreight services and to this effect it has a dedicated cargo division operating as Qatar Airways Cargo. It has dedicated services to Cairo and USA specifically flying from Doha to Chicago with a stop-over in Amsterdam, Netherlands using a B777 Freighter aircraft. In addition there is Qatar Executive which specializes in corporate jet services.
QR is being credited as one of the worldss pioneering airlines when it comes to innovation. In this regard it was reported in October 2009 that a Qatar Airways A340-600 conducted the world's first commercial passenger flight using a mixture of kerosene and synthetic Gas-to-Liquid (GTL) fuel, produced from natural gas, on its flight from London's Gatwick Airport to Doha. The purpose was to experiment the viability of jet fuel made from a source not subject to rapidly fluctuating oil prices. However, some experts believe that GTL fuel is likely to remain a marginal choice due to an expensive production process. QR has joined a few elites to acquire the ultra modern Superjumbo A380 aircraft. It has five of them on order from Airbus Industries slated for delivery in 2012.
Qatar Airways, Emirates Airlines and Etihad (the three Middle East Carriers) are being accused by competitors of being successful largely because they are literally baby-carried, baby-seated and spoon fed by their Governments. That this is done through cheap fuel, cheap money via export credits, no taxation, etc, which has been going on for ages. But the Gulf airlines counter argue these allegations by pointing out that they succeed because their governments provide an environment that actually supports aviation citing Dubai as a shining example of a free trade axiom which is lacking elsewhere. Industry observers are also curious that none of these airlines is a member of any alliances namely Oneworld, Sky Team and Star Alliance. The reason being put forward for this is because the three airlines, by and large, thrive on 6th Freedom traffic rights with no need for enhanced networking with others.
Having said that, its really quite encouraging to see that the aviation market in the country is growing as we have seen the introduction of more airlines services in the last five months and now QR has put the icing on the cake by almost doubling its services in Tanzania. Indeed this underscores the fact that the country is seen as a place to be by foreign investors and its our hope that step by step Tanzania will claim its fair share in the global aviation marketplace.
Byase Luteke
