Ref: http://goo.gl/yPxyI0
QATAR AIRWAYS TO JOIN ONEWORLD ON 30 OCTOBER 2013
Monday, 9 September 2013: Qatar Airways will become a full member of oneworld
® with effect from Wednesday 30 October 2013, adding one of the world’s
fastest growing and most highly rated airlines to the world’s leading
quality airline alliance.
One of just seven carriers worldwide rated five-star by the Skytrax airline
quality agency and the organisation’s Airline of the Year 2011 and 2012 and
runner-up 2013, Qatar Airways is the only one of the “Gulf Big Three”
carriers slated to join any of the global airline alliances.
It received clearance to board oneworld after successfully completing a
thorough review of its readiness, conducted by British Airways, which is
sponsoring Qatar Airways’ entry into the alliance, with oneworld’s central
team.
Qatar Airways completes its oneworld implementation programme just one year
after receiving its invitation to join, announced at a press conference in
the alliance’s New York home in October 2012. This will make its induction
into oneworld one of the fastest in the alliance’s history. Normally it
takes around 18 months for any airline to be readied to enter any alliance.
Qatar Airways’ addition to oneworld will come shortly before the airline
moves into its new home base, Hamad International Airport, which has been
designed to strengthen Doha’s position as a premium global hub, with an
eventual capacity for 50 million passengers a year.
From its first flights on Wednesday, 30 October, Qatar Airways will offer
oneworld’s full range of services and benefits.
pic: http://www.qatarairways.com/images/PressImages/9SEP1WORLD/1world-pan.jpg
From then, the 3 million members of Qatar Airways’ Privilege Club loyalty
programme will enjoy frequent flyer privileges whenever they fly with any
oneworld member airline, which include leading brands from each global region
– airberlin, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways,
Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas,
Royal Jordanian, S7 Airlines and some 30 affiliated airlines. This includes
earning and redeeming Qmiles for awards and earning Qpoints for tier status
when flying with all these airlines.
Privilege Club Platinum cardholders will have Emerald status in the oneworld
programme. Privilege Club Gold will be equivalent to oneworld Sapphire and
Privilege Club Silver will be oneworld Ruby.
From 30 October, Privilege Club Platinum and Gold members will be able to
access 550 airport lounges worldwide offered by oneworld member airlines when
they fly with one of the alliance’s carriers. Qatar Airways’ First and
Business Class passengers will also be able to use oneworld partner airline
lounges.
Also from 30 October, the 130 million members of the established oneworld
airlines’ frequent flyer programmes will be able to earn and redeem awards
and tier status points and receive all other oneworld benefits on Qatar
Airways.
Qatar Airways is already participating in Global Explorer, the
round-the-world fare offered by all oneworld members and various airlines
that are not part of the alliance. When it becomes part of oneworld, Qatar
Airways’ network – serving 130 destinations in 70 countries across the
Middle East, Europe, Africa, North and South America, Asia and Australasia –
will be covered by the full and extensive range of oneworld fare and sales
products.
More than 20 of its destinations and five countries – Ethiopia, Iran,
Rwanda, Serbia and Tanzania – will be new to the oneworld map. More
significantly, Qatar Airways will substantially strengthen the alliance’s
customer offering by providing superior routing alternatives across many
hundreds of city pairs. For example, passengers flying between Asia and
Southern Europe or between Asia and Africa will now have convenient one-stop
connections not previously available within the oneworld network.
Its implementation, making oneworld the leading alliance in the Middle East
region, comes as the group undergoes the biggest expansion in its history
with:
‧ The addition of Malaysia Airlines, one of this industry’s most frequent
award winners, six months ago, further strengthening oneworld’s position in
South East Asia, one of the fastest growing regions for air travel demand.
‧ The switch in the second quarter of next year to oneworld from the Star
Alliance by TAM, the leading airline in Latin America’s leading economy,
Brazil, along with its Paraguayan affiliate, following the addition to
oneworld on 1 October 2013 of the newest member of the LAN group, LAN
Colombia, solidifying oneworld’s position as the leading alliance in Latin
America.
‧ The introduction early next year of SriLankan Airlines, as the first
airline from the Indian subcontinent to join any global alliance, which, with
Qatar Airways, will make oneworld the leading alliance in the region.
In addition, US Airways proposes to switch from Star to oneworld as part of
its planned merger with American Airlines, subject to necessary approvals.
With Qatar Airways and the other airlines lining up to join, oneworld will:
‧ Serve almost a thousand airports in more than 150 countries, with 14,000
daily departures.
‧ Carry 480 million passengers a year on a combined fleet of almost 3,500
aircraft.
‧ Generate US$ 140 billion annual revenues
Qatar Airways’ oneworld implementation programme has represented one of the
most extensive projects in the airline’s 16-year history, with working
groups covering some 20 streams of activity. Projects are nearing completion
to bring its various internal processes and procedures into line with the
alliance’s requirements, and extensive employee training and communications
programmes are now underway at Qatar Airways and the alliance’s established
members, to ensure they are ready to provide oneworld’s customer services
and benefits across the expanded alliance from 30 October.
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said: “In Qatar Airways
’ relatively short history, we have quickly established a reputation for
innovation, quality and excellence in everything we do. We are pleased to
build on that by becoming the only major airline from the Gulf to date to be
joining any of the global airline alliances. We are proud to entering the
best of them, in oneworld – and to be doing so in record quick time. We
very much look forward to flying alongside some of the best airlines in the
world from 30 October, bringing the heightened benefits offered by oneworld
to our customers.”
oneworld CEO Bruce Ashby said: “Quality has always been the hallmark of
oneworld, so we are pleased to be adding to our alliance another of the world
’s highest quality airlines, in Qatar Airways. oneworld aims to be the
first choice alliance for frequent international travelers the world over.
Qatar Airways will significantly improve our connectivity between many of
the destinations that are most important to those customers. We look forward
to welcoming it and its customers on board the world’s leading airline
alliance.”
Images and logos
A selection of print-quality images and logos of Qatar Airways, oneworld and
its existing member airlines can be downloaded from www.oneworld.com/toolkit
About Qatar Airways
Qatar Airways was launched in 1997 and quickly established itself as one of
the world’s fastest growing and highest quality airlines.
Besides being named Skytrax’s Airline of the Year for the past two years, it
is also the organisation’s Best Middle East Airline for the seventh year
running and has retained Skytrax’s Five Star ranking since 2004.
Qatar Airways, which uses the two-letter code QR, boarded 17 million
passengers in 2012. Its 130-aircraft fleet is one of the world’s youngest,
with an average age of four years, including the world’s newest passenger
jet, the Boeing 787. It has orders and options for more than 250 new
aircraft for delivery over the next few years, including 13 Airbus A380-800s,
80 Airbus A350s, 52 more Boeing 787s and 80 Airbus A320neos.
Among the 130 destinations worldwide it serves are oneworld hubs Amman,
Berlin Tegel, Buenos Aires Ezeiza, Hong Kong, London Heathrow, Kuala Lumpur,
Madrid, Melbourne, Moscow Domodedovo, New York JFK, Osaka Kansai, Sydney,
Tokyo Narita, the Sao Paulo base of member elect TAM and the Colombo home of
oneworld member elect SriLankan Airlines.
It already code-shares with oneworld members American Airlines and Malaysia
Airlines.
For further media information, contact:
oneworld Michael Blunt, VP Corp Comms +44 7711 997487
michael.blunt@oneworld.com
www.oneworld.com
Qatar Airways
+974 4430 2072
qrmedia@qatarairways.com.qa
www.qatarairways.com
看照片來這裡:
For press release image:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/qatarairways/sets/72157635450411700/
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