Qatar Airways records 10% sales revenue growth

Qatar Airways, one of the world's fastest-growing airlines, continued to record positive growth in its last financial year to March 31, 2003 in the face of a depressed international aviation market.

Addressing the airline's annual commercial conference in Doha today, Qatar Airways’ Chief Executive Officer, Akbar Al Baker, said during 2002/2003 the carrier continued to exceed performance targets.

"In the last year, Qatar Airways carried more than 2.5 million passengers from destinations across Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, the Indian  Sub-continent and the Far East," said Al Baker. "This was well in excess of our projected target of 2.2 million passengers.

"It is also indicative of the airline's growth that last month, with the Iraq conflict at its peak, Qatar Airways exceeded its forecasted passenger load."

Al Baker revealed that the airline's sales revenue produced strong growth with a 10% increase on its annual target. Cargo revenues also performed well, producing 12% growth on forecasts.

"Cargo revenue growth is largely a result of improvements in service levels and greater capacity," said Al Baker. "With the addition of the new Qatar  Airways freighter in July, we forecast very significant cargo growth in the coming year."

In the past financial year, Qatar Airways also significantly expanded its route network to 40 destinations.

"We also made a large investment in new aircraft," explained Al Baker. "At the start of last year we were operating 12 aircraft. We now have a fleet of 23, which will grow to 28 by the end of this year."

Building on a reputation for premium service, Qatar Airways has launched an aggressive growth plan to ensure it can offer people a greater choice of  destinations, more flights, and the latest in-flight products and services.

As part of the plan, Qatar Airways will extend its route network to 50 destinations by the end of 2003.