Qatar Airways brings its Boeing 777 to London
Award-winning Qatar Airways has introduced its flagship Boeing 777 aircraft for the first time on one of its European routes, operating daily between London Heathrow and its Doha hub.
The Boeing 777-200 Long Range aircraft is deployed to operate flight QR012, departing Heathrow daily at 1505 hrs, arriving in Doha shortly before midnight with convenient flight connections to destinations across Asia Pacific. These include Melbourne, also operated with a Boeing 777, with a rapid 45-minute Doha connection to one of its most popular routes, offering the fastest flight between London and the Australian city.
Return flight QR011 departs Doha at 0750 hrs, offering convenient connection times from the rest of the Qatar Airways network, including flights from the Middle East and Indian subcontinent. The Boeing 777 is distinguished by its fuel efficiency, spacious cabin interior, range capability and service reliability.
The two-class Boeing 777-200LR features 42 Business Class seats in a 2–2–2 configuration with each offering a generous seat pitch of 78-inches – or 6.5ft of leg room. Each seat converts into 180 degree horizontal flat beds. The aircraft also features 217 Economy seats in a 3–3–3 layout offering up to 34-inch pitch. All seats provide personal touch screen seat back television screens with more than 900 interactive audio and video entertainment options, regardless of which class passengers are travelling in.
Qatar Airways’ UK and Ireland Country Manager, Rachel Finn commented: “Our Boeing 777 distinguishes itself by its spacious cabin interior and its superior on-board entertainment. We are delighted that our UK passengers now have the opportunity to experience our award-winning 5-Star service on board this state-of-the-art aircraft.
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“With the introduction of this aircraft from London, we are now able to offer our passengers a flying experience on the Boeing 777 via Doha to Melbourne which is one of our highly popular routes.”
In July, Qatar Airways reached a milestone with the arrival of its 20th Boeing 777 aircraft. Today, the airline operates 21 Boeing aircraft, including eight of the Long range versions, 11 Extended Range (300-ERs) and two freighters.
At the Farnborough Air Show six weeks ago, Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker announced confirmed orders for two additional long range Boeing 777s for operations on new ultra long-haul markets.
Besides the London route, Qatar Airways’ current fleet of Boeing 777-200 LRs operates non-stop between its Doha hub to Houston, Melbourne, and Sao Paulo, which then continues service onto Buenos Aires. The airline has yet to announce to which other destination(s) the additional two Boeing 777-200 LRs will operate.
Qatar Airways was recently voted as the third best airline in the world following the annual Skytrax survey of 18 million international passengers. In the survey, the airline was also voted as having the best Business Class service and catering in the world, as well as being honoured as the Best Airline in The Middle East for the fifth consecutive year.
Qatar Airways also became the first airline to receive the Staff Service Excellence Award for the Middle East. The new award replaces the Best Cabin Staff in the Middle East category, which Qatar Airways has won for the past seven years. The expanded category now includes airline staff at all passenger touch points, including onboard, reservations, check-in and airport personnel.
By 2013, Qatar Airways plans to serve 120 key business and leisure destinations worldwide with a modern fleet of 120 aircraft. Today, the airline’s fleet stands at 87 aircraft, flying to 92 destinations across six continents.
Qatar Airways currently operates six flights a day between the UK and Qatar – four-a-day from London Heathrow; and daily from both London Gatwick and Manchester.