Qatar Airways which is one of the few airlines to fly through the COVID-19 pandemic is on track to connect over 130 destinations across the globe by the end of this month. The airline, which celebrates five years of service to the people of Sydney on March 3, is now operating over 800 services a week making it the world’s number 1 international airline. With cities connected the airline is now focusing on increasing frequencies so that cities will be served with a strong schedule of daily or more frequencies so when border restrictions ease and people take to the skies it has a solid global network to help get them to where they need to be. Prior to COVID-19 Qatar Airways served 160 destinations so the target of 130 by the end of March is a huge achievement for an international airline. Qatar Airways has also added new destinations such as Brisbane, Australia, and it is expanding its US footprint adding San Francisco and Seattle, and in Africa, Accra and Abuja. Key to the airline’s ability to serve so many destinations is its fleet mix with the super-efficient Airbus A350 and the Boeing 787 which are a big hit with passengers. Qatar Airways has the largest fleet of A350s (53 aircraft) and for the passenger, this means the famous and award-winning business class Qsuite, is available on flights to more than 45 destinations including Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Frankfurt, Kuala Lumpur, London, and New York. Qatar Airways was a launch customer for the A350 and one of the first to introduce the 787. Qatar Airways has also become the first global airline in the world to achieve the prestigious 5-Star COVID-19 Airline Safety Rating by international air transport rating organization, Skytrax while also achieving a 7-star COVID rating from AirlineRatings.com, which looks at slightly different criteria to Skytrax. The airline has led the industry in most areas of COVID-19 cleaning of aircraft and passenger protection. It was the first to introduce special face screens as well as masks. Qatar Airways will soon become the first global airline to offer passengers 100 percent Zero-Touch technology for its award-winning Oryx One in-flight entertainment system across the A350 fleet as part of the airline’s latest COVID-19 safety measures. The Zero-Touch technology, introduced in partnership with the Thales AVANT IFE system, will enable A350 passengers to pair their personal electronic devices (PEDs) with their seat-back IFE screen by connecting to ‘Oryxcomms’ Wi-Fi and simply scanning a QR code displayed on the screen. They can then use their PEDs to navigate and enjoy more than 4,000 options on offer through the airline’s award-winning Oryx One in-flight entertainment system, limiting the frequency of onboard surface contact and providing greater peace of mind throughout the duration of their journey. Qatar Airways is also set to become the first airline in Europe and the Middle East and North Africa region to offer passengers in Business and Economy the option to pair their personal Bluetooth headphones with the onboard seatback IFE system in all cabins on the Boeing 787-9 fleet. Passengers can book flights with total peace of mind, with Qatar Airways offering unlimited date changes and fee-free refunds for all tickets issued before April 30, 2021, for travel completed by December 31, 2021. The airline’s industry-lead flexible booking policy also provides the permanent feature of exchanging tickets for a travel voucher with 10 percent additional value for all customers booking travel via qatarairways.com. Qatar Airways is now a major player in the Australian market evidenced by the fact that it has flown 1.6 million passengers on the Doha-Sydney route over the past five years. That number includes 92,000 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sydney was the third Australian city for Qatar Airways, after Melbourne (December 6, 2009) and Perth (July 3, 2012) and now service 5 major cities including Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide.