Qatar Airways and Athens International Airport hosted an event on September 29th at Grande Bretagne to celebrate Qatar Airways’ 25-year anniversary. Key stakeholders in Greece attended the event, including Mr. Al-Marwani Hamed Youssef, Consul of the Embassy of the State of Qatar in Greece and the Deputy Minister of Greek Ministry of Tourism, Mrs. Sofia Zacharaki. In an already special year for the airline, Qatar Airways is the official airline partner for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 beginning on 20 November.
Qatar Airways never stopped flying throughout the pandemic, fulfilling its mission of taking stranded passengers home on scheduled and charter flights. The airline was one of the few carriers operating flights to and from Greece during the pandemic. In the most difficult period ever in global airline history, Qatar Airways has won ‘Airline of the Year’ for a record-breaking seventh time in the Skytrax World Airline Awards in addition to recognition for the airline’s hub, Hamad International Airport as ‘Best Airport in the World’ 2021 and 2022. Despite the challenges of COVID-19, Qatar Airways grown to more than 150 destinations in 2022.
Qatar Airways is also proud to be working in collaboration with various cruise lines while Doha is establishing itself as a modern port city and tourist destination. The airline also played an instrumental role repatriating seafarers during the pandemic. Since 2020, Qatar Airways has carried more than 500,000 mariners for both repatriations and crew changes. In addition, the airline operated more than 130 charters carrying over 35,000 workers. The airline’s commitment to maritime industry remains strong with the exclusive Mariner Lounge at Hamad International Airport.
Along with celebrating the 25th anniversary of the airline, Qatar Airways also shared the new European Cluster commercial reorganization unveiled this year. This reorganization ensures the World’s Best Airline delivers the highest quality of service to passengers and trade partners.
Under the new model, Europe is split into five regions with a hub servicing multiple countries. Italy will serve as the hub for the Southern Europe region. This region will cover online markets in Italy, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, and Turkey. As well, offline markets in Slovenia, Malta, and North Macedonia will be covered under this structure in Southern Europe. Key roles have been elevated to oversee the strategy and commercial priorities of the company at a regional level, not only a country level. Lastly, sales teams will have additional support across several countries within the region as opposed to on an individual country basis. These changes will further enhance and streamline efforts to connect Europe throughout the world via Qatar Airways.
With the new reorganization, key roles in Southern Europe have been added.
- Mr. Mate Hoffmann will serve as the Regional Manager for Southern Europe.
- Mr. Sandro Magnetta will serve as the Sales Manager – Corporate for Southern Europe.
- Mr. Angelo Bartolini will serve as the Sales Manager – Leisure for Southern Europe.
- Mr. Mario Testa will serve as Sales Operations Specialists for Southern Europe.
Qatar Airways VP Sales – Europe Eric Odone said: “The new commercial reorganization will help streamline our efforts in Europe. Qatar Airways was one of the few airlines that continued to operate flights to and from Greece during the Pandemic. With the new structure, we will be able to better serve the region and connect passengers to our over 150 destinations worldwide. We are proud of the efforts of the various teams in Europe to bring this reorganization to fruition and we are looking forward to continued success in Europe.”
Athens International Airport Director, Communications and Marketing, Ioanna Papadopoulou, stated: “Since its launch of services at our airport in 2005, Qatar Airways has been one of our most precious airline partners, with a remarkable contribution to the connectivity of our airport, our city and our country! Through the continuous Athens – Doha daily services, Qatar Airways demonstrated, especially in the last couple of very difficult years, outstanding resilience and trust in our market and keeps offering its clients an unparalleled flight product. We would like to extend our warmest wishes to our precious airline-partner for further development in the Athens market and reconfirm our commitment to the continuation of our close and successful cooperation for the next 25 years – and many more!”
