Press Release

Tuesday, 29 October 2013:  Visiting the Middle East is to be made easier and better value for international travellers with the launch by the oneworldalliance of its new Visit Middle East fare - offering attractive flexible fares on flights within one of the world’s fastest growing regions for air travel demand.

The latest offering in oneworld’s market-leading range of alliance fares will be available for sale from Friday (1 November 2013), following the addition tonight of Qatar Airways to oneworld, as the first of the major Gulf carriers to join one of the global airline alliances.

With Royal Jordanian the first airline from the Arab world to become part of any global airline alliance when it joined oneworld in 2007, the addition of Qatar Airways makes oneworld the leading alliance in the Middle East.

The oneworld Visit Middle East pass features all their flights within the Gulf, Levant and Egypt - and also those of the other oneworld partners operating within this region, British Airways and Cathay Pacific - giving unrivalled coverage of the area.

It offers flights to 30 destinations in 12 countries - providing just the ticket to take in the wonders of Petra, the riches of Luxor, cosmopolitan Doha or the sandy beaches of Muscat.

The oneworld Visit Middle East pass must be purchased in conjunction with an international flight to the region with any oneworld member airline.  It can include from three to ten sectors in the region.  Prices are based on the cabin selected - Business or Economy - and the length of each sector, with prices of each flight from US$ 75, excluding taxes and fees.

oneworld offers an extensive ranges of alliance fares, enabling customers to fly on multiple airlines with attractive savings on regular published fares, whether they want to fly right around the world, or explore one or more continents or regions.  These include Visit passes for Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia and New Zealand, Europe, Japan and Malaysia.

For full details of all oneworld fares, see oneworld.com

About Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways was launched in 1997 and quickly established itself as one of the world’s fastest growing and highest quality airlines.  It was named Skytrax’s Airline of the Year for 2011 and 2012 and runner-up for 2013.  It is also the organisation’s Best Middle East Airline for the seventh year running and has retained Skytrax’s five-star ranking since 2004. 

Qatar Airways, which uses the two-letter code QR, boarded 17 million passengers in 2012.  Its 130-aircraft fleet is one of the world’s youngest, with an average age of four years, including the world’s newest passenger jet, the Boeing 787.  It has orders and options for more than 250 new aircraft for delivery over the next few years, including 13 Airbus A380-800s, 80 Airbus A350s, 52 more Boeing 787s and 80 Airbus A320neos.

Among the 130 destinations worldwide it serves are oneworld hubs Amman, Berlin Tegel, Buenos Aires Ezeiza, Chicago O’Hare, Hong Kong, London Heathrow, Kuala Lumpur, Madrid, Melbourne, Miami, Moscow Domodedovo, New York JFK, Osaka Kansai, Tokyo Narita, the Sao Paulo base of member elect TAM and the Colombo home of oneworld member elect SriLankan Airlines.

About oneworld

oneworld is an alliance of the world’s leading airlines committed to providing the highest level of service and convenience to frequent international travellers.  oneworld member airlines include airberlin, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian and S7 Airlines, and around 30 affiliates.  TAM and SriLankan Airlines are on track to join soon.   American has announced its intention to merge with US Airways, subject to necessary approvals, bringing the latter also into oneworld.

Between them, these airlines serve almost a thousand airports in 150 countries, with 14,000 daily departures, carry 480 million passengers a year on a combined fleet of almost 3,500 aircraft, and generate US$ 140 billion annual revenues in total.

oneworld member airlines work together to deliver consistently a superior, seamless travel experience, with special privileges and rewards for frequent flyers, including earning and redeeming miles and points across the entire alliance network. Top tier cardholders (Emerald and Sapphire) enjoy access to more than 550 airport lounges. The most regular travellers (Emerald) can also use fast track security lanes at select airports and extra baggage allowances.

oneworld is currently the holder of six leading international awards for airline alliances - named World’s Best Airline Alliance in the 2013 World Airline Awards by the independent Skytrax airline quality ratings agency, Best Airline Alliance in the 2013 Business Traveller Awards, the Best Airline Alliance by Global Traveler in its GT Tested Reader Survey 2012 Awards for the third year running, the World’s Leading Airline Alliance in the 2012 World Travel Awards for the 10th year running, Australian Business Traveller Best Airline Alliance in 2012 for the second year running, and FlightStats Airline Alliance On-Time Performance 2012 winner, in what was believed to have been the first time a punctuality award has been presented to any global airline alliance.

20131029_oneworld QR joining press release VISIT MID EAST FARE FINAL.pdf