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Catherine W Gichuki
Doha
Qatar Airways (QA) will send eight planes loaded with medical supplies to China on February 21.
This was announced by Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive and Secretary-General of Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC) Akbar al Baker on Monday.
“We have been offering freighter services to China. We will send eight planes on the 21st of this month to China. While two of the aircraft will go to Beijing, three each will to Shanghai and Guanghzou. These planes will carry medical supplies donated by the Government of Qatar, Qatar Airways, several other countries and Chinese embassies around the world,” Baker said on the sidelines of a press conference to announce the 17th edition of the Doha Jewellery & Watches Exhibition (DJWE).
Baker said these eight planes will be departing for China with an interval of four minutes. “This is to show our appreciation and support to the Chinese people.”
He said Qatar Airways is the only international airline that has offered to transport medical supplies to China free of charge in the wake of coronavirus outbreak.
He noted that Qatar Airways is not the only company that deals with this situation.
Baker said the suspension of Qatar Airways flights to China was not due to the coronavirus, but due to operational difficulties, as many countries imposed a ban on entry of cabin crew that go to China.
Baker pointed out that any negative impact on China will impact every single income in the world.
Baker said China has the largest number of tourists in the world, and anything happens there must affect and reflect negatively on the movement of tourists to and from China.
“The losses that will incur on the passengers getting out of China and passengers going into China will be substantial to the airline. I cannot give you the figure because I don’t know how long this problem will persist,” he said.
He said it was unfortunate that many countries reacted by stopping any cabin crew or pilot that operates to China.
“This caused Qatar Airways a huge operational distraction. Therefore, we could not operate to China as we cannot segregate the crew.”
Baker said Qatar Airways is currently studying options for modification in the operating systems to separate the crew of aircraft that go to China and other countries in order to deal with this issue. “We are trying to see how quickly we can overcome this so that we can resume our services to China again,” he said.
Doha
Qatar Airways (QA) will send eight planes loaded with medical supplies to China on February 21.
This was announced by Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive and Secretary-General of Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC) Akbar al Baker on Monday.
“We have been offering freighter services to China. We will send eight planes on the 21st of this month to China. While two of the aircraft will go to Beijing, three each will to Shanghai and Guanghzou. These planes will carry medical supplies donated by the Government of Qatar, Qatar Airways, several other countries and Chinese embassies around the world,” Baker said on the sidelines of a press conference to announce the 17th edition of the Doha Jewellery & Watches Exhibition (DJWE).
Baker said these eight planes will be departing for China with an interval of four minutes. “This is to show our appreciation and support to the Chinese people.”
He said Qatar Airways is the only international airline that has offered to transport medical supplies to China free of charge in the wake of coronavirus outbreak.
He noted that Qatar Airways is not the only company that deals with this situation.
Baker said the suspension of Qatar Airways flights to China was not due to the coronavirus, but due to operational difficulties, as many countries imposed a ban on entry of cabin crew that go to China.
Baker pointed out that any negative impact on China will impact every single income in the world.
Baker said China has the largest number of tourists in the world, and anything happens there must affect and reflect negatively on the movement of tourists to and from China.
“The losses that will incur on the passengers getting out of China and passengers going into China will be substantial to the airline. I cannot give you the figure because I don’t know how long this problem will persist,” he said.
He said it was unfortunate that many countries reacted by stopping any cabin crew or pilot that operates to China.
“This caused Qatar Airways a huge operational distraction. Therefore, we could not operate to China as we cannot segregate the crew.”
Baker said Qatar Airways is currently studying options for modification in the operating systems to separate the crew of aircraft that go to China and other countries in order to deal with this issue. “We are trying to see how quickly we can overcome this so that we can resume our services to China again,” he said.
