Qatar Airways to invest $150 million in Doha International expansion

Published May 25th, 2003 - 03:00 GMT

Qatar Airways will invest $150 million in the second half of this year in the second phase of the Doha International airport expansion, stated a press release.

"This second phase expansion, which will take five months to complete, will include expanding the arrivals terminal to increase its capacity from 3.5 million to six million passengers, the construction of an additional five bays and two hangars, expanding the duty free by 25 percent to provide in total 1,250 square meters and the building of covered car parking to accommodate 2,000 cars," said Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Airways, Akbar Al-Baker.

The third phase of the expansion of Doha International Airport will see Qatar Airways invest an additional $50 million. The third phase will provide an additional five bays - taking the total number of bays to 29 when the expansion is complete.

Qatar Airways recently announced the delivery of a new A330-200 and A320-200. It will shortly take delivery of a long-range A319 corporate jetliner and is one of the launch customers for the A380 'super jumbo' scheduled for delivery in 2007.

Last year, Qatar Airways recorded sales revenue growth of 10 percent on its annual target. Cargo revenues also performed well, producing 12 percent growth on the previous year. The airline carried more than 2.5 million passengers from destinations across Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, the Indian Sub-continent and the Far East. — (menareport.com)