Qatar Airways to showcase business class options at ATM

Qatar Airways will showcase its long-haul Boeing 777 Business Class seats and its interactive in-flight entertainment system at this week’s Arabian Travel Market.The stand will also feature on display a large-scale model of the New Doha International Airport. The new airport is slated to open in 2012 with an initial handling capacity of 24 million passengers annually.Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker is hosting a press conference at DICEC today, highlighting the airline’s expansion plans and announce forthcoming developmentsThe carrier began the year with a successful expansion drive launching five new routes from its Doha hub – Bucharest, Budapest, Brussels, Stuttgart and Aleppo in Syria. The launch of services to the northern Syrian city marked a formidable achievement for the airline, taking its global route map to 100 destinations in a short span of just 14 years. Forging ahead with further expansion in the second half of this year, the airline is set to launch a further six new routes, three of which will be introduced next month – Shiraz, Venice and Montreal, the airline’s first route in Canada. The remaining three routes will be launched in phases from July – Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta) from July 27, the Bulgarian capital Sofia from September 14 and Norway’s capital city of Oslo, effective October 5. Al Baker said: “We are pleased to be exhibiting at a key event so close to home. Arabian Travel Market is a forum to connect with travel industry suppliers, partners and key officials, and comes at an especially important time as we embark on the second half of our 2011 global expansion plans.”By 2013, Qatar Airways plans to serve over 120 key business and leisure destinations worldwide with a modern fleet of more than 120 aircraft. Today, the airline’s fleet stands at 97 aircraft, flying to 100 destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North and South America.