Qatar Airways CEO addresses aviation figures at IATA passenger symposium

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, brought a lively debate to the IATA World Passenger Symposium in Hamburg, when interviewed live on stage by BBC correspondent Mr. Rajan Datar.

Speaking with Mr. Datar in front of more than 500 senior attendees from the aviation world, Mr. Al Baker shared his own expertise on the passenger experience, when asked of his views on the future of cabin service trends, global alliances and Qatar Airways’ own approach to ensuring the airline maintains its leading edge in hospitality, for which it was recently awarded Best Airline in the World by Skytrax.

Mr. Al Baker also disclosed during the interview that Qatar Airways will shortly roll out its own New Distribution Capability (NDC) initiative with Farelogix following a successful pilot programme.

“The passenger experience is key when it comes to governing the operations of an airline. In a world of growing choice, travel classes, routes and airline alliances, we must drive forward the overall passenger experience to make journeys as seamless, safe and smooth as possible,” said Mr. Al Baker.

“It is in this same regard that Qatar Airways is pleased to announce its pilot programme with Farelogix, whereby we would now extend this experience to our travel agent partners and intermediaries on the ground. This will enable everyone to experience our airline’s premium products before passengers have even stepped onto a plane."

Aimed at enhancing the capability of communications between airlines, travel agents and intermediaries, the NDC will provide all users with a richer, personalised and dynamic interface, allowing Qatar Airways to showcase its products. Qatar Airways has been actively engaged in the evolution of the IATA NDC programme since it was first introduced in 2012.

Qatar Airways NDC initiative with Farelogix focuses on showcasing the airline’s premium products across all class of cabins, supported by the additional content made available via the NDC standard messaging format.

“Working with Qatar Airways on this NDC initiative provides us with a tremendous opportunity to showcase the flexibility, scalability, and speed to market of our proven technology for enabling airline-controlled distribution and merchandising,” says Jim Davidson, President and CEO of Farelogix. “We look forward to seeing the results Qatar Airways will achieve by implementing dynamic offers and taking advantage of personalisation – two core tenets of NDC.”

Qatar Airways is one of the fastest growing airlines operating one of the youngest fleets in the world. Now in its 18th year of operations, Qatar Airways has a modern fleet of 166 aircraft flying to 152 key business and leisure destinations across six continents.