JEDDAH, 3 November 2004 — The rising trend of oil prices could have a long-term impact on the aviation industry worldwide, a top airline executive said here yesterday.
Airlines have already imposed a fuel surcharge and may resort to a further increase if aviation fuel becomes more costly. Budget airlines, which do encourage people to travel because of their low fares, could be the first casualty in the face of rising oil prices,” Ali M. Al Rais, senior manager, commercial operations (East) of the Doha-based Qatar Airways, told Arab news on the sidelines of an iftar party the airline hosted at Jeddah Hilton. The year-old Air Arabia is the first low-cost airline of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa and is focused on catering to flights within the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent. Such airlines exist in other parts of the world.
However, the aviation industry has remained “healthy,” especially in the Gulf, despite the after-effects of Sept. 9 attacks, Rais said, adding that the growing tendency among citizens and residents to tour within the region, as also increased numbers of visitors from Asia and the Far East have contributed to the healthy situation.
Rais said Gulf airlines have learned to “exist and flourish” by cooperating among themselves. “Airlines in the Gulf have been able to do well as they are engaged in relationship building. We do cooperate among ourselves buying group insurance and fuel and also creating a pool to share engineering facilities and aircraft spare parts,” said Rais. The Indian subcontinent is one of the highest revenue yielding sectors for Qatar Airways. Following the recent open skies policy announced by the Indian government, the airline is almost tripling the number of weekly nonstop flights between Doha and India. From 19 flights a week spread across four Indian cities — Bombay, Cochin, Trivandrum and Hyderabad, the airline has sharply raised its frequency to 51 services a week from Monday (Nov. 1). For the second year in running, the Indian government has relaxed its policy on capacity restrictions to foreign airlines by opening up the skies for a five-month period over the busy holiday season. The airline also operates twice a day to Colombo and Maldives, as well as daily to Islamabad, Peshawar and Karachi.
The airline has also been signing code share agreements with other international airlines. Three weeks ago, Yemen Airways became its 10th code share airline. “We operate like shuttles within the Gulf and it looks as though distances have been eliminated between the cities,” Rais added.
Ahmed M. Al Idrissi, area manager of Qatar Airways for the Western Province, gave a presentation that reviewed the latest position of the “Gulf’s fastest growing airline.”
The airline operates daily seven flights to Dubai and three flights to Bahrain. It has weekly 15 flights from Doha to the Kingdom — five to Jeddah, three to Riyadh and seven to Dammam. It has a fleet of 34 Airbus aircraft serving 54 destinations worldwide. Beijing, Seychelles, London Gatwick, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Melbourne are among the destinations that it will add to its network soon.