Remarkable first year of Qatar Airways joint business agreement with Royal Air Maroc

• Qatar Airways hosts global aviation leaders and Moroccan VIPs at a gala dinner in Casablanca to celebrate 2016 expansion to Marrakech, Morocco
• Airline announces new destinations for 2017-18 including Canberra, Australia and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Airline also celebrates its one-year anniversary of partnership with Royal Air Maroc

CASABLANCA, Morocco, 2016-Dec-01 — /Travel PR News/ — Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker today welcomed national and international media at a press briefing in Casablanca, celebrating a remarkable first year of the airline’s joint business agreement with Royal Air Maroc and its expansion to Marrakech earlier this year. This followed a VIP gala dinner held last night at the Four Seasons Hotel Casablanca also hosted by H.E. Mr. Al Baker and attended by leaders in global aviation and Moroccan VIPs.

The early success of the airline’s second gateway to Morocco was underpinned with an announcement that Qatar Airways will soon be de-linking its current Casablanca-Marrakech route to serve each city directly and will be increasing to a daily frequency to Marrakech in the near future, likely to be served by a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

In its first year of operation the joint business agreement between Qatar Airways and Royal Air Maroc introduced passengers to a seamless travel experience connecting West Africa, the Middle East and Asia, with a code-share partnership offering access to 50 destinations across both carriers’ combined networks. Both airlines provide shared frequent flyer benefits and have aligned terminal operations at Casablanca. Services to the city of Marrakech were added to the joint business agreement in July 2016, further supporting the success of the partnership.

Travellers will soon be able to enjoy even more options as Qatar Airways today announced a number of frequency increases between Doha, Casablanca and Marrakech. From 15 December 2016, Royal Air Maroc will increase flights between Doha and Casablanca to four times weekly, and from 5 January 2017 Qatar Airways will also add a fourth weekly flight to Marrakech ahead of daily services commencing. From 4 April 2017, Royal Air Maroc will add an additional service to the Casablanca-Doha route, taking the number of weekly return services to five.

H.E. Mr. Al Baker also took the opportunity to announce new Qatar Airways destinations planned for launch in 2017-18 including Canberra, Australia; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; Las Vegas, United States; Dublin, Ireland; Medan – Kualanamu International Airport, Indonesia and Tabuk and Yanbu in Saudi Arabia.

H.E. Mr. Al Baker, said: “I am very pleased with the performance of our joint business agreement with Royal Air Maroc. Since launching last year, we have seen consistently strong demand on services to and from Morocco. This growth was further supported by the recent addition of Marrakech to our network in July of this year. The increased frequencies between Doha and Casablanca and Marrakech will offer our passengers even more flight options meaning more convenience for global travellers.

“Thanks to this successful affiliation Qatar Airways’ passengers can take advantage of Royal Air Maroc’s comprehensive network in West Africa, while Royal Air Maroc passengers can enjoy our global network spanning the Middle East, Asia, and Australia.”

Passengers travelling to Casablanca and Marrakech on either Qatar Airways or Royal Air Maroc can connect to the West African cities of Cotonou (Benin), Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), Praia and Sal Island (Cape Verde), N’Djamena (Chad), Brazzaville and Pointe Noire (Republic of Congo), Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire), Libreville (Gabon), Banjul (Gambia), Accra (Ghana), Conakry (Guinea), Bissau (Guinea Bissau), Monrovia (Liberia), Bamako (Mali), Niamey (Niger), Nouakchott (Mauritania), Freetown (Sierra Leone), Dakar (Senegal) and Lomé (Togo).

Qatar Airways passengers can also travel onwards to the domestic cities of Morocco, including Marrakech, Agadir, Tangier, Guelmime, Tan Tan, Tetouan, Al Hoceima, Fes, Errachidia, Oujda, Nador, Ouarzazate, Zagora, Laayoune, Dakhla and Beni Mellal.

Royal Air Maroc started operating three weekly flights from Casablanca to Doha using a Boeing 787 on 21 October 2015; complementing Qatar Airways’ already existing daily Boeing 787 Dreamliner flights between Doha and Casablanca. Both airlines offer reciprocal codeshare on each other’s services, giving passengers the flexibility of using a combination of flights from both airlines between Qatar and Morocco.

Notes to editors:

For images please visit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/qatarairways/sets/72157673170867254

About Qatar Airways:
Qatar Airways, the national carrier of the State of Qatar, is one of the fastest growing airlines operating one of the youngest fleets in the world. Now in its 19th year of operations, Qatar Airways has a modern fleet of 191 aircraft flying to more than 150 key business and leisure destinations across six continents.

A multiple award-winning airline, Qatar Airways was awarded World’s Best Business Class; Best Business Class Airline Lounge and Best Airline Staff Service in the Middle East at the prestigious 2016 World Airline Awards managed by international air transport rating organisation Skytrax.

Qatar Airways is a member of the oneworld global alliance. The award-winning alliance was named the World’s Best Airline Alliance 2015 by Skytrax for the third year running. Qatar Airways was the first Gulf carrier to join global airline alliance, oneworld, enabling its passengers to benefit from more than 1,000 airports in more than 150 countries, with 14,250 daily departures.

Oryx One, Qatar Airways’ inflight entertainment system offers passengers up to 3,000 entertainment options from the latest blockbuster movies, TV box sets, music, games and much more. Passengers flying on Qatar Airways flights served by its B787, A350, A380, A319 as well as select A320 and A330 aircraft can also stay in touch with their friends and family around the world by using the award-winning airline’s on-board Wi-Fi and GSM service.

Qatar Airways is one of the world’s leaders in sponsoring global sporting events, including the strategic team sponsorships of FC Barcelona and Al-Ahli Saudi Arabia FC. Qatar Airways’ strategy reflects the values of sports as a means of bringing people together, something at the core of the airline’s own brand message – Going Places Together.

Qatar Airways Cargo, the world’s third largest cargo carrier, serves more than 50 exclusive freighter destinations worldwide via its Doha hub and also delivers freight to more than 150 key business and leisure destinations globally on 191 aircraft. The Qatar Airways Cargo fleet now includes eight Airbus 330Fs, 11 Boeing 777 freighters and two Boeing 747 freighters.

SOURCE: Qatar Airways

For further information contact:
Qatar Airways Group, Corporate Communications Department
Tel: +974 4022 2200, Fax: +974 40225350
E-mail: qrmedia@qatarairways.com.qa

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