Qatar

Melbourne Airport welcomed its 25th international airline as premium Middle Eastern airline Qatar Airways commenced direct three-times weekly services from Melbourne to Doha. The service will become daily from January 1, further enhancing the strong business and tourism links between Victoria and the Middle East. Victorian travellers can now fly non-stop direct from Melbourne to Doha [...] Read Full Story

DOHA (Reuters) - Qatar Airways is "very interested" in buying Bombardier Inc's <BBDb.TO> CSeries jetliners, but needs to address commercial issues before it makes an order, the airline's chief executive said on Sunday. Bombardier said in March, interest in the new CSeries 100- to 149-seat aircraft was helping fuel demand, but the big push would come later with the need to replace aging fleets. "We are still talking to Bombardier, we have certain commercial issues to be addressed by them and once that is addressed, Qatar Airways is still very interested in the CSeries," Akbar al-Baker told Reuters on the sidelines of an aviation ... Read Full Story

Qatar Airways has revealed that it is currently finalising arrangements before launching flights to Melbourne from Doha next month. From December 6th, the airline will offer three weekly services on the route before introducing a daily connection from January 1st 2010. In preparation for the launch, Qatar Airways' has recruited new staff in Australia and plans to further expand its workforce in the country by 25 to 30 per cent over the coming weeks. Marwan Koleilat, the carrier's senior vice-president of commercial operations, said: "Australia is a key market for the continued growth of Qatar Airways and we are excited with the response we ... Read Full Story

Qatar Airways has said it completed the first trial of a commercial passenger flight in an aircraft powered by a fuel made from natural gas. The journey from London Gatwick to Doha took over six hours and was operated with an Airbus A340-600 aircraft using Rolls-Royce Trent 556 engines, said a statement late on Monday. The state-owned company said it plans to launch the gas-powered flights into commercial production starting in 2012. Shell developed and produced the 50-50 blend of synthetic Gas to Liquids (GTL) kerosene and conventional oil-based kerosene fuel known as GTL jet fuel, it added. Qatar boasts natural gas reserves of ... Read Full Story

State-owned Qatar Airways said on Tuesday it has secured two financing deals worth 700 million dollars for the purchase of four new Boeing 777 aircraft due for delivery over the next few months. BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank AG, Standard Chartered Bank and Calyon are among the banks that carried out the transaction, the airline said in a statement. "In these difficult times for the banking sector, I am very pleased to see this group of experienced aviation banks regrouping to support Qatar Airways once again," Chief Executive Officer Akbar al-Baker said. The Doha-based airline said it is aggressively expanding with more than 220 aircraft ... Read Full Story