TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA QATAR Airways (QA) on Wednesday announced a long-term strategic partnership with leading Indian information technology (IT) company Wipro to develop new technological solutions to create competitive advantage for the award-winning airline.

The partnership will bring together Qatar Airways’ expertise in aviation systems and Wipro’s experience in application development and project management to develop a new suite of IT software.

Qatar Airways CEO Akbar al Baker and Wipro Chairman Azim Premji signed the agreement at the airline’s headquarters in Doha.

Baker said: “Qatar Airways always works closely with its partners to take service levels to new heights for the benefit of its valued customers. We are delighted to work with an industry leader like Wipro, combining its technical expertise with our world-class services to drive efficiency by employing the best technology around.

“Under this agreement, Wipro will work with us to build new aviation-related IT solutions to meet our business needs in a fastmoving environment and provide an overall enhanced customer experience besides giving Qatar Airways competitive edge in using the latest technology available.” Wipro chairman said technology played a key role in driving more improvements, providing enhanced customer service and enabling faster decision- making.

The solutions that will be jointly developed through this partnership will enable Qatar Airways and its subsidiaries to pursue their aggressive growth strategies.

The agreement will further enhance Wipro’s capabilities within the aviation sector and also increase its commitment to the Qatari market.

Under the new arrangement, a lot of the software development will be carried out by Wipro in South India. Qatar Airways will be able to tap into Wipro’s vast pool of highly technical resources as well as research and development centres to explore and take advantage of new technological solutions.

Qatar Airways has seen rapid growth in just 15 years of operations, currently operating a modern fleet of 111 aircraft to 118 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia- Pacific, North America and South America.

Over the next few months, Qatar Airways will launch services to a diverse portfolio of new routes, including Yangon, Myanmar (October 3); Maputo, Mozambique (October 31); Belgrade, Serbia (November 20); Warsaw, Poland (December 5); Gassim, Saudi Arabia (7 January 2013) and Chicago, USA (10 April 2013).