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Aviation History
1999
1999 - 0894.PDF
A lit 'TliA fJZP Uli I Making a mark H^H I ^H chief executive HI Hi Qatar Airway Qatar Airways has restructured from a low-cost operator to a high-quality international carrier MAX KINGSLEY-JONES/DOHA THE QATAR GOVERNMENT recog nised that action was needed to ensure that its capital, Doha, was not isolated as the country's economy grew during the early 1990s. While the nation's shared flag car rier, Gulf Air, served Doha, the city did not fea ture as highly in its network as other places in the region. To raise Qatar's profile to interna tional travellers, clearance was given for die cre ation of a local airline to fill the void. In early 1994, Qatar Airways began regional operations from Doha as a small, private, low- cost airline. Its launch was low key, but few- missed the fact that the airline was created to serve a founder member country and share holder in Gulf Air. Five years later, Qatar has revised its strategy around a high-frequency, high-quality product, and is providing headaches for the region's incumbent airline. Its future assured under gov ernment control and, along with Gulf Air, des ignated a Qatari flag carrier, it is poised to make an even greater impact. Qatar Airways' original strategy was to oper ate "no frills", low-frequency, high-capacity7 services using two ex-Kuwait Airways Airbus A310-200s leased from the manufacturer. The initial network included points in the Gulf such as Dubai and Sharjah, with destinations in Asia and Europe added later. About 18 months after the airline's launch, the A31 Os were replaced by- two 500-seat ex-All Nippon Airways Boeing 747-100SRs. A small fleet of Boeing 727-200 were acquired from nearby Emirates for short- haul routes. By November 1996, the airline was well advanced with its plan to operate a 3 0-point net work. Then the government seconded Akbar Al-Baker, the young, enthusiastic director of finance, administration and the secretariat, from the ministry of civil aviation, to take over as chief executive. He quickly set about completely re-writing the strategy. "I immediately revised the route network, dropping five destinations and can celling plans to fly to others," he says. "This boosted our load factor by 5 % ". Services were suspended to Madras, Istanbul, Athens, Tunis and Calcutta. Plans to serve Frankfurt, Moscow and Tehran were dropped. By pulling back from unprofitable routes, Al- Baker concentrated the airline's resources on the rest of the network and he increased fre quencies. Al-Baker, who had established a successful string of his own private businesses, quickly tackled restructuring the fleet and manage ment. Senior managers were replaced as Al- Baker sought to surround himself with - in his words - a team of highly motivated staff. FLEET OVERHAUL Other key tasks facing Al-Baker included a fleet and image overhaul. Three smaller, more efficient 231-seat Airbus A300-600R twinjets were leased to replace the 747s and, in early 1997, the carrier revitalised its visual image with a revamped logo featuring a stylised oryx, Qatar's national symbol, and new corporate colours. The rebranding came as part of a drive by Al- Baker to establish Qatar Airways as the premier in-flight service provider in a region bulging with highly regarded carriers. The rebranding coincided with a drive to improve its premier European route to London, switching from Gatwick Airport to Heathrow and moving to a daily frequency. While Al-Baker could not introduce a quick fix for Qatar's four ageing 727s, an overhaul of the cabin interiors provided a short-term solu tion. A deal was concluded with Airbus in July for up to 11 144-seat A3 20s (including options on five aircraft) for delivery from 2001. The first of four similar aircraft was delivered in early March on six-year operating leases from Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise (SALE). This will enable all the 72 7s to be phased out by May this year. "It was a close call between the A3 20 and die [Boeing] 737-800, which offers 15 more seats," says Al-Baker. Pricing and leasing availability- helped to swing the balance in Airbus' favour. Al-Baker adds that he can convert his A320 options to the 18 5 -seat A3 21, but is "unlikely to take the larger aircraft as it does not have sufficient range for Qatar's requirements". The four A320s ordered directly from Airbus 38 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 7 - 13 April 1999
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