Established in 1993 by the royal family of Qatar, Qatar Airways was relaunched in 1997 and led by chief executive Mr. Akbar al Baker. He has remained in the role ever since.
The airlines started operations in January using just one leased Airbus A310 aircraft which had previously been in service with Kuwait Airways and was seized by Iraq in 1990.
Its first destinations were regional including Amman, Cairo, Dubai, Muscat and Khartoum with routes further afield to Bangkok, Tokyo and Osaka.
A second leased A310 joined in June the same year which had also previously flown with Kuwait Airways.
These two aircrafts only stayed with Qatar Airways until mid-1995 because as its routes grew so did its fleet. The airline’s first fleet expansion came with the 747. In 1995, it purchased two 747-100 aircraft which had previously flown with Japanese airline ANA, they were of 747sr variants – meaning a reduced fuel volume and range but increased passenger capacity.
An additional 747 was acquired from Air Mauritius in 1996. This was a 747sp model with a shortened fuel fuselage but increased range over the 747-100 variants already in the fleet.
The original A310s were retired in 1995 and these 747s became the main long-haul aircraft for a while. In addition to these, the airline also operated the Boeing 727 for some regional services.
The 747s were replaced in 1997 with A300-600 aircraft. The first two were released in March 1997 – they previously flew with Garuda Indonesia then with Ansett Worldwide. Between 2000-2003, six more passengers A300s joined the fleet with five of them leased.
Fleet expansion by this point was well underway. Qatar Airways stopped with Airbus for a new narrow body fleet as well it ordered the A320 in 1998 which entered service from 2009 but were preceded by many leased aircraft from 1999.
The last two decades have seen a continual expansion in Qatar Airways fleet as well as destinations served. It has grown to become a major hub-based carrier for East-West routes similar to Emirates and Etihad which have followed a similar trajectory.
The early part of this expansion saw Qatar sticking entirely with Airbus, but is has since moved to a joint Airbus and Boeing fleet. It ordered its first two A380 aircraft in 2001 and in 2003 it placed an impressive $5.1 billion order with Airbus for 32 aircrafts including the A330-200, A330-300 and A340.
According to a report by Flight Global, the airline had been considering both the Boeing 777 and the A340-600 but decided on the A340 after it passed the airline’s evaluations. Its all Airbus fleet lasted until 2007, when it placed a $13.5 billion dollar order with Boeing for 30 787-8s aircraft, 27 777s, both passengers and freight models.
It also confirmed an order with Airbus in the same year for 80 A350 aircrafts and its first A380s. These large orders demonstrate its confidence in its future growth.
In 2011, at the Dubai Air show, these orders were expanded. The airline increased its Airbus order to include 50 A320neo aircrafts and five more A380s. In 2016, it ordered more 787 and 777-er aircrafts with Boeing and has 60 777x aircrafts on order right now.
In April 2011, Qatar Airways reached the milestone of 100 destinations served and it has continued growing this network today, reaching over 130 cities worldwide. It ranked fifth globally for the number of countries served by 2019 with a presence in 78 countries. For comparison, Turkish Airlines occupied the number one spot with 121 countries served.
Additionally, for a time, Qatar also operated the longest flight in the world from Doha to Auckland which only has been beaten by Singapore Airlines flights to New York with the A350ulr. The airline joined the one world alliance in 2013, which was a particularly noteworthy move as it was and remains the only one of the major Middle Eastern airlines to join an alliance.
Emirates and Etihad followed a model of direct partnership instead of formal alliances. It has been committed to one world but it has not all been straightforward. It came close to leaving in 2019 following disagreements with American Airlines and Qantas.
Qatar believed that American Airlines was making claims against it to the United States government and that Qantas was trying to block Qatar’s expansion into Australia, however, the situation has calmed since then.
Meanwhile, Alaska Airlines membership in the alliance in 2021 is great news for Qatar Airways. It has already announced a new service to Seattle and has expressed optimism about the possibilities of that partnership.
As well as growing the airline’s fleet and destinations served, Qatar Airways has also been active in investing in other carriers which has given the company a surprising diversification outside its base of Qatar.
There also have been rumors of another major acquisition, possibly in North America but this has not been confirmed. At present, Qatar Airways investments include: A 25.1% stake in IAG, British Airways, Air Lingus and Iberia, 10% of LATAM Airlines, a 9.99% share in Cathay Pacific, 5% stake in China Southern Airlines, and 49% of Rwanda Air.
In 2014, Qatar also tried its hand at launching another regional airline. Al Maha Airways was a planned fully owned airline operating in Saudi Arabia and it acquired and painted four A320 aircrafts but plans were dropped in 2017 amidst the Qatar diplomatic crisis. This period also saw Qatar Airways aircraft banned from several countries airspace, a situation that was only resolved in 2021.
Qatar Airways has remained one of the most active airlines through the slowdown in 2020 and beyond. Simple Flying looked at this in July 2020, noting that it was using its full fleet of 30 787s and 49 A350s at the time.
Repatriation was a large part of its operations but the airline stayed agile with routes and fleet to keep flying. In May 2021, Simple Flying spoke to Chief Executive Mr. Akbar Al-Baker about this decision in which he said, ”We can never accept to leave our passengers stranded in such a trying time.. yes, we took a risk, we lost money, we gave $1.8 billion dollars worth of refunds without any question, in a very very quick manner because we wanted people to know that Qatar Airways was there for them, in good times and in bad times and this is how we repatriate it as a matter of fact 3.1 million passengers.”
In 2020, during the global slowdown, only Qatar Airways A380 and A330s were completely grounded and it has since gone on to confirm that five of its 10 A380s will not return to service. This is just now due to the slow-down, however the airline has also been unhappy with the emissions of the super jumbo compared to the A350.
This of course is not unexpected. Emirates may be planning to return its full fleet to service in 2021, but many other airlines are struggling to see the need for the A380 when they have other aircraft available.
As of June 2021, Qatar Airways has 231 aircraft in its fleet. This is made up of 32 aircraft in the A320 family, 7 A330-200s and 8 A330-300s all parked currently, 34 A350-900 aircraft, 19 A350-1000s, 10 A380s though all are currently parked with five confirmed to retire, 9 777-200LR, 24 777-200F, and 48 777-300ER aircraft, 30 787-8, 7 787-9, as well as two 747-8F’s and there are plenty more aircraft on the way.
Before the pandemic, the airline was due to take delivery of a record 40 new aircraft in 2020, up form 35 and 36 in the years before. While it has since tried to slow this, the order book remained strong. Its narrow body fleet is getting a renewal with 50 A321neo aircraft switching from the original order for A320neo aircraft. 10 of these will be A321LR aircraft, opening up some interesting longer routes for narrow bodies.
These should start to enter service from 2022. There are also 23 A350-1000 and 23 A787-9 aircraft still to enter service and of course its 777x are yet to arrive. With delays to the 777x program, the aircraft is not expected to enter service now until 2024. But with 60 aircraft on order, Qatar is set to operate the second largest fleet behind Emirates who have 115 on order.
Despite the huge growth in routes, there is room for more. New routes launched just in 2019 included Gaborone, Botswana, Mogadishu, Somalia, Robot, Morocco, Valletta, Malta, Lisbon, Portugal, Philippines, Langkawi, Malaysia, and Izmir, Turkey. In addition, routes being looked at for 2021 include Almaty, Kazakhstan, Dubrovnik, Croatia, Lyon, France, Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan, Osaka, Japan, Santorini, Greece, Siam Reap, Cambodia, and Trabzon, Turkey.
There’s also plenty of scope for more services to the Americas. In South America, Qatar only operates passenger services to Sao Paulo Brazil and Buenos Aires Argentina with LATAM’s departure from one world, there are possibilities to expand here. In the United States, there are several major hubs it does not serve. A new co-sharing agreement with American Airlines may move things about.
There are plenty more opportunities in Asia too with many large cities in Japan and China not yet served and although Africa has already been a big focus for Qatar Airways, when you consider the incredible rise of airlines such a Ethiopian Airlines, there are certainly more possibilities there.
