Newstrack

Qatar Airways works on improving traffic from Nagpur

Chetan Kapoor - Mumbai

Doha-based five-star carrier Qatar Airways, which operates in nine destinations in the country, is working towards increasing traffic from its Nagpur station. In a tête-à-tête with Express TravelWorld, Naveen Chawla, regional manager - India, Qatar Airways said, "Nagpur is a promising market as the government is working on a better airport, including a cargo hub. Given that, we are working on improving our loads from Nagpur and also tapping the Pune market for this station as it provides an option of flying from either Mumbai or Nagpur."

Furthermore, according to Chawla, the Indian operations "look promising and buoyant" given the average load factors are around 75 per cent. He said, "Our geographical location (Doha) is a promising hub and we obviously depend on transit traffic to the Gulf, Africa and Europe where the numbers are quite high. We have registered double-digit growth from India and are still buoyant, given the high disposable income of the middle class populace that has still not flown internationally."

The airline is also focussing on offering more connections out of India. Chawla informed, "If we had more relaxations, we would add Bengaluru - where we have an offline office, to provide a wider choice to the passengers. The south has been a historical sector with a lot of traffic - workers, NRIs, etc. We also plan on test marketing in Kolkata and Amritsar with offline stations to see how it works."

At the same time, the economic slowdown hasn't affected the airlines' operation to the country. "India has a lot of self-sustaining factors that are pushing its growth. In spite of the recession, there are high numbers of mergers, takeovers and foreign investments to and from India," he mentioned.

In terms of core markets besides India, the carrier also has its eyes set on the Far East and Vietnam, and is soon to fly daily to Houston from Doha. Even in Europe where it serves 14 cities, the carrier regards London as a very strong market with high VFR and leisure traffic.