Qatar Airways lives the five-star dream

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Al Rais: 2008 will see frequencies on existing Qatar Airways routes “beefed up”, as well as new destinations revealed.

Qatar Airways has had plenty to shout about this year. The Doha-based carrier has already rolled out seven new destinations in almost as many months and three more - Nagpur, Stockholm and Ahmedabad - will be launched by the end of the year.

In addition, CEO, Akbar Al Baker, placed an order for three additional A380 aircraft at the recent Paris Airshow taking its total order to five, while 60 A350s are also inked in the bulging Airbus order book.

The airline does not intend to rest on its laurels, but 2008 will see a period of "beefing up" the existing network according to Qatar Airways' general manager, commercial, Ali M. Al Rais.

"We already fly to 80 destinations and we have to make sure that we have the right frequencies and connections to each," he explained during an exclusive interview with ATN.

"Having said that, there are always more places we can fly to and with the new generation aircraft we will be able to fly to anywhere in the world from Doha; we can fly 16 hours non-stop," he explained.

One barrier to rolling out more routes and frequencies, he said, was the slow rate at which aircraft manufacturers were building new aircraft.

"They are producing one aircraft every three weeks, when it should be every three days," he said.

With five A380s on order, the travel industry and the consumer are itching to know how each aircraft will be configured.

Emirates Airline has revealed it will roll out three different configurations across its 55-strong fleet of A380s, while others such as Air France, will stick with just one model.

"It would be boring to have just one configuration when you have such a large fleet," said Al Rais, referring to Emirates' strategy.

"But my mouth is sealed [with regards to Qatar Airways' A380 configuration]."

He was also coy about Qatar Airways' plans for the new Doha International Airport to open in 2009, which will see Qatar Airways demolish its brand new premium terminal for first and business passengers.

Built in just nine months, facilities at the US$90 million terminal include a spa, Jacuzzi, exclusive duty free shopping, business centre and fine dining restaurants.

"[But] other airports in Europe are already starting to copy our [premium terminal] concept," he said.

"So, there will be many surprises when the new airport opens; there will be a further development on what we have already done (at the existing premium terminal)."

In the meantime, Al Rais is busy monitoring the success of the carrier's recently launched routes, particularly those to the US.

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