QATAR Airways’ rise to become a leading int’l carrier was part of a long-term strategy when competition in the Gulf was fierce, says ceo Akbar Al Baker.
In Canberra this week, Al Baker admitted Qatar Airways began as a “small backyard airline with five dilapidated airplanes with an average age of 22 years.”
When appointed ceo in 1997, he was assigned to deliver an airline built on high standards of service and excellence, and faced competition from the likes of Gulf Air, Emirates, Kuwait Airlines, Saudi Arabian Airlines and Middle East Airlines.
“An airline from a small nation like Qatar cannot survive against big players in the region,” Al Baker said he was told back in the day, “we will only ever have 35 planes and 35 destinations”.
“Of course that was a smoke-screen for my plan,” he quipped, with QR’s fleet now comprised of over 200 aircraft flying to more than 150 destinations.
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Source: traveldaily