Qatar Airways

• 1. Founding And Early Expansion

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  The government of Qatar established Qatar Airways on the 22nd of November 1993. Operations began just three months later on the 20th of January 1994. Amman served as the airline's first destination in May 1994. By April 1995, CEO Sheikh Hamad Bin Ali Bin Jabor Al Thani had employed a staff of 75 people. The initial fleet consisted of two Airbus A310s that served routes including Abu Dhabi, Bangkok, Cairo, Dubai, Khartoum, Kuwait, Madras, Manila, Muscat, Sharjah, Taipei, Tokyo and Trivandrum. During 1995, two ex-All Nippon Airways Boeing 747s were purchased from Boeing. The airline acquired a second-hand Boeing 747SP from Air Mauritius in 1996. Services to Athens, Istanbul, Madras and Tunis were discontinued in late 1996. Calcutta and Muscat were removed from the route network in January and September 1997 respectively. Flights to London were launched during 1997. The carrier took delivery of two second-hand 231-seater Airbus A300-600R aircraft on lease from Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services (AWAS) during the year. A new logo was revealed with the introduction of these new aircraft. A third A300-600R joined the fleet shortly afterwards. In July 1998 the carrier placed a firm order with Airbus for six Airbus A320s. These were slated for delivery between 2001 and 2005. The airline also took options for five more aircraft of the type. Also in 1998, the carrier struck a deal with Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise (SALE) for the lease of four Airbus A320s. Deliveries were scheduled between February and April 1999. These latter four aircraft aimed at replacing the Boeing 727-200 Advanced fleet. The airline took delivery of the first A320 powered by Aero Engines V2500 on lease from SALE in February 1999.

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• 2. Fleet Modernization Strategies

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  Qatar Airways became the Airbus A380's ninth customer in 2001 when two aircraft of the type were ordered plus two options. In October 2000, Qatar Airways ordered an International Aero Engines V2500-powered Airbus A319CJ and took an option for another aircraft of the type. During the year the airline started serving the Chinese market with the introduction of flights to Shanghai. Also in 2003, the carrier expanded its portfolio of destinations with the commencement of services to Manchester in April, Tripoli in November, and Cebu and Singapore in December. During the 2003 Dubai Air Show the airline firmed up an earlier commitment for two Airbus A380s and took options for another two of these aircraft. The value of the transaction was billion. It was also in 2003 that Qatar Airways became the first airline to be audited under the new IATA operational audit programme, IOSA. In May 2007, Qatar Airways and Airbus signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the acquisition of 80 Airbus A350 XWBs. This included 20 Airbus A350-800s and 20 aircraft of the , 900 and , 1000 variant respectively. The first aircraft were initially slated for delivery in 2013. The agreement was firmed up in June during the 2007 Paris Air Show. Three more Airbus A380s were also made part of the order. In July of the same year, during the unveiling ceremony of the Boeing 787 in Everett, Qatar Airways was recognised as a future customer for the type when its logo appeared on one side of the brand new aircraft. By that time, the airline had not acknowledged that it had placed an order for a number of these new aircraft. In November the same year, a firm order for 30 Boeing 787-8s plus options for 35 more aircraft of the , 9 or , 10 variant was confirmed. The order also included 14 Boeing 777-300ERs, six Boeing 777-200LRs and seven Boeing 777Fs. Five more aircraft of the type were on option. The combined order was valued at billion. The airline took delivery of its first 335-seater Boeing 777-300ER in late November 2007. On the 12th of October 2009, the company completed the world's first commercial passenger flight powered by a fuel made from natural gas.

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• 3. Global Route Network Development

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  Zürich became the carrier's 53rd destination worldwide in July 2004. Yangon was added to the list of destinations in December the same year. A new service to Osaka was launched in March 2005. Its first A340 was delivered on the 8th of September 2006. The route network grew further during 2007 with the incorporation of Newark in June, Nagpur , the carrier's seventh destination in India, in September, and Stockholm in November. A new scheduled service to New York-JFK that commenced in November 2008 replaced the Newark route. Tokyo-Narita was first served by the carrier in April 2010. Qatar Airways also launched Benghazi and Entebbe during 2011. Service to Baku and Tbilisi, originally planned for 2011, was delayed until the 1st of February 2012 due to operational issues. In July 2012, Perth became the second city served in Australia. On the 8th of October 2012, Qatar Airways announced it would join Oneworld within the forthcoming 18 months. The joining ceremony took place on the 29th of October 2013. During 2013, Qatar Airways launched flights to Gassim in Saudi Arabia, Basra and Najaf in Iraq, Phnom Penh, Salalah and Chicago. Services to Ethiopia began in September 2013. As of the 5th of February 2017, the airline had the longest regularly scheduled flight of a commercial airline between Doha and Auckland. In November 2018, the airline announced it would expand its flights to Iran landing at Tehran and Shiraz as of January 2019 and to Isfahan in February. In June 2017, all Qatar Airways flights were prevented from entering Emirati, Saudi Arabian, Bahrain and Egyptian airports due to the 2017 diplomatic crisis. This ban was in effect until January 2021 when it was lifted. As of the 25th of January 2021, Qatar Airways' network spreads across 120 destinations after the settlement of Qatar's airspace dispute with neighbouring Gulf countries.

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• 4. Corporate Ownership And Subsidiaries

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  Following the assumption of power by emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in June 2013, Qatar Airways became fully state-owned. The 50% stake previously owned by former prime minister Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani and other stakeholders was bought out by the government. This coincided with Hamad bin Jassim leaving his other public positions such as those of foreign minister and chief executive of the Qatar Investment Authority after Tamim became emir. As of February 2020, the largest shareholder in International Airlines Group (IAG) is Qatar Airways with 25.1% of the shares. Qatar Airways has been described as an example of soft power diplomacy by the authoritarian government in Qatar to rebrand the state. Human rights organisations have criticised Qatar Airways for its relationship with the Qatari state citing the poor human rights record in Qatar. In December 2019, the company purchased a 60% stake in Rwanda's new $1.3 billion international airport Bugesera International Airport. According to the memorandum of understanding signed between Qatar Airways and the Rwandan government the partnership features three agreements to build own and operate the state-of-the-art facility. In February 2020 Qatar Airways acquired a 49% stake in Rwanda's flag carrier airline RwandAir. Qatar Airways also owns a 10% stake in the LATAM Airlines Group and a 9.99% stake in Cathay Pacific. Qatar Airways and jetBlue are minority shareholders in JSX.

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• 5. Passenger Experience Innovations

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  In March 2017, Qatar Airways revealed a new business class cabin named Qsuite. The new cabin offers suites with doors arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration. Qsuite features single seats on the window sides and the middle section suites can be converted into a quad room allowing four passengers to face each other in a dining-room like set up. Additionally select couple seat pairs in the middle section can be converted into a double bed offering a product similar to what other airlines offer in First Class. Launched on new Boeing 777-300ER and A350 XWB aircraft in summer 2017 and initially introduced on the Doha to London Heathrow route the new seats will be retrofitted in the remaining fleet progressively excluding the Airbus A330s and Airbus A380s due to their upcoming retirement of the types beginning in 2019 and 2024 as Qatar Airways introduced the Airbus A350 Boeing 787 and Boeing 777X to replace them. In 2015, Qatar Airways opened the Al Safwa First Lounge for its first-class passengers. The airline's first lounge outside Doha opened at London Heathrow's Terminal 4 in January 2012. Qatar Airways opened its new Premium Lounge at Dubai-International's Concourse D in April 2016. In January 2017, Qatar Airways opened its new premium lounge within Terminal 1 at Charles de Gaulle Airport. This marks the airline's third international lounge following the successful openings in London Heathrow and Dubai. The lounge has a capacity for up to 200 passengers and includes two terraces one of which is designated for smoking.

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• 6. Labor Controversies And Human Rights

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  On the 2nd of October 2020, thirteen Australian female passengers aboard a Qatar Airways flight to Sydney from Hamad International Airport in Doha were forced to deplane before takeoff at gunpoint and were subsequently strip searched and subjected to an invasive internal examination against their will. This was allegedly prompted by the discovery of a newborn baby in an airport bathroom. This evolved into a diplomatic incident between Australia and Qatar with the then-Australian foreign minister Marise Payne stating the treatment of the women concerned was offensive grossly inappropriate and beyond circumstances in which the women could give free and informed consent. In October 2022, the affected Australian women began legal proceedings in Australia against Qatar Airways and the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority under the Montreal convention. In April 2024, the Federal Court of Australia dismissed the case after finding that the searches did not happen onboard a Qatar Airways aircraft nor were carried out by the airline's employees. In 2025 however the full bench of the Court reversed the April 2024 decision allowing the case to proceed against Qatar Airways and Matar the entity that runs Hamad International Airport. In November 2024 the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) initiated a criminal investigation into Henrik Hololei a former EU transport chief over allegations that he

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• 7. Political Scandals And Legal Disputes

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  had accepted free flights from Qatar Airways while negotiating an Open Skies deal that favoured the airline. Reports indicated that Hololei traveled business class at no cost nine times from 2015 to 2021.

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