Qatar Airways Vice President Commercial Europe, Paul Johannes (centre) with the award for Best Long-Haul Airline at the Business Travel Awards 2013 in London. With him are English television comedian, actor and host of the awards night, Alexander Armstrong (left) and Senior Vice President of Diners Club, John O’Hagan, a key sponsor of the award.
DOHA: Qatar Airways has been voted Best Long-Haul Airline at the 18th annual Business Travel Awards ceremony at Grosvenor House Hotel in London this week.
Organised by Buying Business Travel magazine, UK travellers awarded the Five-Star carrier for its commitment to quality and superior in-flight service, said the airline.
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer, Akbar Al Baker, said he was delighted that the airline’s award winning streak has continued into the New Year.
“This is a great start to 2013 and we thank our loyal UK travellers for giving us this vote of confidence. We are very proud to receive this honour, testament to the world-class service and personalised treatment that we provide to all of our customers. This year will be another big year for Qatar Airways as we continue to expand our worldwide network, welcome more aircraft into our ever-expanding fleet and, of course, look forward to the opening of the new Hamad International Airport on April 1,” Al Baker added.
Qatar Airways Vice President Commercial Europe, Paul Johannes, received the award on behalf of the airline.
Johannes said: “We are very pleased with the level of support we have received from our UK customers, which further highlights the appreciation of our attention to detail and passenger comfort. We look forward to continuing to serve our existing UK-based travellers and welcoming new customers onboard.”
Editor of Buying Business Travel, Paul Revel, said: “The judges felt that Qatar Airways is right up there with the best, with a very impressive submission, underlining the youth and dynamism of this carrier. It has a great product, a rapidly expanding network and plenty of innovation.”
Qatar Airways was also named Airline of the Year for the second consecutive year by the prestigious Skytrax organisation.
The award follows other recent accolades from Business Traveller’s sister publications around the world; Best Business Class in the World by Business Traveller Middle East and Best Airline in the Middle East and Africa by Business Traveller Asia Pacific.
One of the world’s fastest growing airlines, Qatar Airways has seen rapid growth in just 16 years of operations, now flying a modern fleet of 118 aircraft to 124 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and the Americas with the expansion continuing well into this year.
Over the next few months, Qatar Airways will launch services to a diverse portfolio of new routes, including Phnom Penh, Cambodia (February 20); Chengdu, China (March 19); Chicago, the US (April 10); and Salalah, Oman (May 22) with many more new start-ups planned.
The Peninsula
