news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

Qatar Airways was on Wednesday named ‘Airline of the Year’ in the prestigious Skytrax World Airline Awards 2011.

The Qatar carrier topped the annual rankings of more than 200 international airlines – up from third spot last year when the title was won by South Korea’s Asiana Airways.

Qatar Airways beat stiff competition from four Asian carriers in the category to clinch the honour in front of global aviation industry executives at the Paris Air Show.

source: arabianbusiness.com

Qatar Airways plans to sell shares to the public in an initial public offering (IPO) in early 2012, which it hopes will follow its third successive year of net profits.

The airline, which is 50 per cent owned by the Qatari government and 50 per cent by private investors, said it had already started work on the offering, which would sell a minority stake to the public.

“‘We have already triggered the financial mechanism that we would need for an IPO,'” said Akbar al Baker, the chief executive of Qatar Airways, in Doha yesterday. “‘I think we will IPO somewhere in the early part of 2012.'”

source: thenational.ae

Qatar Airways spelled out its commitment to the Spanish market helping strengthen commercial and economic ties with the recently-introduced flights to Barcelona – its second route in Spain.

Celebrating five years of flying to the capital Madrid, the addition of services to Barcelona in June acknowledges the importance Qatar Airways places in the Spanish market.

Since the June 7 launch of daily non-stop flights between Barcelona and the airline’s operational hub in Doha, capital of the State of Qatar, Qatar Airways reports the new service proving to be strong. The route was introduced just in time for the busy summer holiday season.

source: travelio.net

Emirates says Baghdad will be among the new destinations it will begin serving this year. Emirates will begin flying to Baghdad in July, making it “‘the latest carrier to add routes to Iraq as the nation struggles to recover from war.'”

Other Middle East carriers (FlyDubai and Qatar Airways) have also recently announced Baghdad service, writing that “‘the flights also are a possible sign of increased Arab investment in Iraq’s oil and commercial sectors.'”

source: USA Today