As the airline world struggles to gain any altitude Qatar Airways is soaring ahead, operating to 100 destinations with 700 weekly flights across the globe. Qatar Airways is one of the very few international airlines that has remained flying through the pandemic repatriating millions of travellers. The airline’s mix of fuel-efficient aircraft, such as the A350, and strategic network management has enabled it to quickly resume flights and expand services in line with passenger demand. Benchmark figures identified that Qatar Airways’ fleet of A350 aircraft consumed 20 tonnes of CO2 less per block hour on certain routes compared to the A380. The new cities that have just been added are Bucharest and Sofia while Copenhagen, Madrid, Manchester, Singapore and Stockholm all get increased frequencies. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said that he wants to see the airline operating to 125 destinations by the end of December. “Our passengers will enjoy more options to travel, when they want, across the globe,” Mr Al Baker said. Those 125 destinations will include 20 in Africa, 11 in the Americas, 41 in Asia-Pacific, 38 in Europe and 15 in Middle East. And many cities will be served with daily or even double daily frequencies. Qatar Airways operates from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. Since the onset of the pandemic, Qatar Airways has flown over 175 million kilometres taking home over 2.3 million passengers on over 37,000 flights. The airline has also operated more than 400 charter flights across the world enabling it to stay up to date with the latest airport and national health procedures and maintain a finger on the pulse of global passenger flows, in particular in markets where it does not operate regular scheduled flights. And Qatar Airways has more experience than any other airline in passengers and crew care with COVID-19. Qatar Airways’ onboard safety measures for passengers and cabin crew include the provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for cabin crew and a complimentary protective kit and disposable face shields for passengers. Business Class passengers on aircraft equipped with Qsuite can enjoy the enhanced privacy this award-winning business seat provides. Qsuite is available on flights from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth and then onwards to more than 30 destinations including Frankfurt, London and New York. Even on the ground at Qatar Airways’ home and hub, Hamad International Airport (HIA), has implemented stringent cleaning procedures and applied social distancing measures throughout its terminals. It is the first entity in the world to achieve independent verification from BSI (British Standards Institution) for its implementation of COVID-19 ICAO Aviation Health Safety Protocols. The verification was conducted following successful audits for Compliance to International Civil Aviation Organization Civil Aviation Recovery Taskforce ICAO CART. This important achievement marks the State of Qatar as the first country in the world to be verified by BSI for its COVID-19 Aviation Health Safety Protocol Implementation. Sparing no effort in safeguarding its passengers with enhanced hygiene procedures, HIA continues to maintain a 1.5-metre physical distancing and all touchpoints are sanitized every 10-15 minutes. All gates and bus gate counters are being cleaned after each flight. HIA’s retail and food and beverage outlets encourage contactless and cashless transactions through cards and are considering introducing online or in-app purchases in the future. HIA was recently ranked Third Best Airport in the World, among 550 airports worldwide, by the Skytrax World Airport Awards 2020. HIA was also voted the ‘Best Airport in the Middle East’ for the sixth year in a row and ‘Best Staff Service in the Middle East’ for the fifth year in a row. To ensure travellers can plan their travel with peace of mind, the airline has generous booking and refund policies. For all bookings made before December 31, 2020 passengers can change the travel date multiple times up to December 31, 2021, and the ticket is valid for two years. There are also a series of other options which you can read here. These options are very important to give passengers total peace of mind that no matter what the circumstances the value of the booking is secure and if needed a refund will be provided. Time to dust off those travel plans!