Qatar Airways passenger traffic up 35%

Qatar Airways carried 12 million passengers last year, a gain of 35 per cent, and says it hopes for growth this year.

The Doha-based airline, Qatar Airways, plans to redistribute resources to exploit emerging markets in Africa and Asia to alleviate the fall in demand from Europe.

Qatar Airways carried more than 12 million passengers last year, a gain of 35 per cent, and says it hopes to achieve similar growth this year, even as economic turmoil dampens demand for international air travel. The Doha-based airline plans to redistribute resources to exploit emerging markets in Africa and Asia to counteract the fall in demand from Europe, said Ali al Rais, the executive vice president of commercial operations. "Yes, there are drops in Europe," he said. "But Africa and Asia are still resilient, and the ability to manoeuvre our assets gives us more control." The carrier expects demand for air travel in the Middle East to grow 4 per cent this year, down from an earlier forecast of 6 per cent. It said it would stay on course despite the slowdown and was investing aggressively to promote Doha as a major hub for international air travel. Its fleet is expected to increase from more than 60 to 110 in the next five years, while its route network will expand from 83 to 120 destinations during the same period. "We are optimistic, being geographically located in this part of the world - I feel bad for airlines located in other parts," Mr al Rais said. But recent delays may prove worrying for the airline as it seeks to grow its network. Its inaugural flight to Houston was postponed for several months due to late aircraft arrivals, following a 58-day Boeing labour strike last year. The route is now scheduled to open on March 30. A nearly two-year production delay of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner will affect Qatar Airways, which is seeking financial compensation from the US aircraft manufacturer - a standard course of action among airlines that is written into their purchase contracts. "They already know they have been at fault," Mr al Rais said in Dubai yesterday while promoting the Houston launch. "They know that the standard clause will kick in." Additionally, Qatar Airways' new hub, tentatively named New Doha International Airport, will not be completed until 2011, two years later than originally expected. Mr al Rais said that a $US500 million (Dh1.83bn) upgrade of the existing airport in Doha would help ease capacity constraints until then. The airline, which is targeting profitability in 2011 after launching in 1993, said official figures would be released in April, when it concluded its fiscal year. In its 2007 calendar year, the airline carried 8.87 million passengers. Mr al Rais also put to rest reports that Qatar Airways was interested in the privatisation sale of Greece's Olympic Airways, "We have never been interested in taking any other airline or any other ventures," Mr al Rais said. The initial reports, coming from the Greek ministry of transport, had confounded analysts who follow the Doha airline's heavy investment in cultivating a five-star image. "What on earth did Qatar want with Olympic?" asked Addison Schonland, the chief executive at Innovation Analysis Group. "Qatar is a 'new-age airline' and any association with Olympic could only tarnish its image. Olympic's brand is as dead as ancient Greece. Its labour trouble alone ensures that there is nothing worth saving." Qatar Airways expects to receive about 12 aircraft this year, including long-range Boeing 777s, to help it expand its reach as an ultra-long-haul carrier for international air travel between Asia, Europe and Africa. Despite the dramatic fall in jet fuel prices, which closely follows crude oil prices, Qatar Airways does not plan to purchase jet fuel futures contracts, called hedging, because energy trading was "too volatile", Mr al Rais said. [e-mail]