Qatar Airways - The Inevitable

[CaptSnails]

MTQatar,
Thank you for your views, however I think it's only fare to mention that since you are part of the (deleted on request) family, your views are most likely somwhat bias.

You mentioned among other things that:

Gulf Air didn't employ many Qataris even pre-Qatar Airways. The majority of Gulf locals in GF were from Bahrain even though Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Oman have an equal share in the airline. Gulf Air didn't contribute it's fare share to the economy, GF didn't do much to market Qatar as a tourist destination, didn't do much to market Qatar as a whole.

Gulf Air also reduced a lot of their flights out of DOH and that didn't offer a lot of choice for Qatari's to travel. The airport facilities were severely under-utilised which would mean a higher per unit cost.

First of all GF employed vertually all Qataris who applied, except ofcourse those who did not meet the required standards. The truth of the matter is that (the average) Qataris had much better things to do than to learn how to be a professional pilot. See per capita income and compare that to the rest of the owner states.
As far as GF reducing flights from Doha, that only happened when QR started flying and demanded to take a share of the routes. Besides a country like Qatar does not justify many more flights because of lack of shear passenger volumes in and out of Qatar.


In 1986 the population had reached 370,000 and by 1992, nearly 500,000. The present number is made up of about 25% of Qatari nationals, with the rest being expatriates.

Of the latter, by far the largest groups come from the Indian subcontinent (dominated by Pakistanis and Indian Keralites), other Arab countries (notably Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and Syria) and the Philippines.

So assuming today the total population is approximately 600,000(of which 75% are low income expatriates) please justify how it's possible to sustain an airline of the size of QR never mind its ambitious growth plans, considering Qatar is a country with absolutely no tourism and most certainly not a hub for Asia or Europe.

I find nothing wrong in you just admitting openly that, you know what we have the money and we want to create our own airline as an image maker for the country irrespective of what it may cost. But please don't try and tell us that a country like Qatar justifies such a move nor that such a move makes financial sence because you have better chances selling freezers to eskimos.

Regards and best of luck.