It’s out with the old and in with the new at Qatar Airways.
New CEO Badr Mohammed Al Meer has only been at the helm of the airline for a few months, but he’s already announcing big changes to the airline’s premium products, according to CNBC.
“This is a new era,” Al Meer told CNBC.
This is an update we’re really excited about: here’s more.
Qatar Airways currently only offers a true first class product on a small number of aircraft, though you’ll also find first class seats on a handful of its Boeing 777s that it borrowed from Cathay Pacific.
The airline’s flagship first class product can be found exclusively on the upper deck of the monstrous Airbus A380. Speaking of the superjumbo jet, Al Meer also confirmed that it would not be phased out of the fleet at a rapid clip after all, which is what his predecessor, Akbar Al Baker, had decided before he stepped down.
While the airline will maintain some continuity by keeping the A380 in its fleet, there are some changes coming. It recently placed a large order of both Airbus and Boeing aircraft. When these jets are delivered to the airline, they’ll have an all-new, leveled-up first class product, as confirmed by Al Meer in the CNBC interview.
At this point, we can only imagine what a new Qatar Airways first class might look like, but we can expect a level of luxury akin to that of flying private. “We wanted to combine the experience of flying commercial and flying on a private jet and develop something new,” said Al Meer.
Hot Tip:
The first class experience with Qatar Airways starts on the ground in the incredible Al Safwa lounge — the most palatial commercial airport lounge in existence. Once onboard, it’s the catering that makes this first class experience really stand out from the crowd.
For Qatar to really shake up the status quo of first class, it’ll need to do something big. Its competitors in the region like Etihad Airways and Emirates offer lavish first class products, and so does Singapore Airlines, another competitor further afield. At any rate, Qatar is under pressure to deliver something special if it wants to leap to the top of this rarefied class.
Given what the airline achieved with the Qsuite (Qatar’s best business class offering), we’re confident Qatar will hit its mark when it rolls out the new first class product.
Speaking of Qsuite, it seems like just yesterday that we saw the product for the first time, and over the years the product has gained an incredible reputation, with many proclaiming it to be better than many airlines’ first class products.
And now, it’s time for the next iteration of this storied product. Qatar Airways plans to reveal the so-called QSuites 2.0 at the Farnborough International Airshow in July 2024.
We certainly cannot wait to see it, though it’s going to be a while until we can fly on it, as Qsuite 2.0 and the new first class product won’t be flying until the end of 2025 at the earliest, or whenever Qatar begins to take delivery of the very delayed Boeing 777-9 aircraft.
Qatar Airways’ new CEO is wasting no time in charting the airline’s course into a new era. We’re very excited to see the new first class and Qsuite 2.0 but disappointed that it’ll be such a long time before we get to fly them ourselves.
Regardless, we’ll be back this summer with an update from the Farnborough International Airshow to give you all the details we can about Qsuite 2.0.
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