Qatar Airways Company Q.C.S.C. (Arabic: القطرية) is the flag carrier airline of Qatar, based in Doha. It operates a hub and spoke network, linking 81 international destinations. It is one of only six airlines in the world with a five star ranking for service and excellence awarded by Skytrax, an independent aviation industry monitoring agency. Skytrax also named Qatar Airways’ cabin crew as Best in the Middle East for the fourth year running in 2006 and second best worldwide following a survey of more than 12 million passengers. In 2007, Qatar Airways was awarded as the best Middle Eastern airline for the second year running, and the fourth best airline worldwide. Qatar Airways was awarded the best first class onboard during the 2007 Skytrax awards.

EMIRATES SERVICES

SERVICES

Emirates in-flight entertainment system, Information Communication Entertainment (ICE), was introduced in 2002 and is now offered to passengers in all classes with over 1,200 entertainment options. Emirates won the award for best in-flight entertainment in 2006 from Skytrax, for their ICE system, with the biggest selling point being over 500 channels of movies, television and music. ICE is found in all of Emirates Airline's Airbus A340-500, and all of Emirates Airline's Boeing 777-300ER and Boeing 777-200/LR fleet.

Emirates was one of the earliest airlines to introduce high-speed, in-flight Internet service by installing the Inmarsat’s satellite system and became the second airline in the world to offer live international television broadcasts using the same system.^[44]

In November 2006 the airline signed a deal with mobile communications firm AeroMobile. This allows passengers on board Emirates flights to use their mobile phones to call or text people on the ground. This is the first airline to confirm such a deal and allows passengers to use their personal mobile phone on selected Boeing 777s. This system was due to be introduced in early 2007 but was delayed a few months. The service was first introduced on a commercial service between Dubai and Casablanca on 20 March 2008.^[45]

In mid-2007, Emirates will feature docking capability for Apple Inc.'s iPod portable music and video player. This will allow the device's battery to be charged, but will also allow integration with Emirates' in-flight entertainment (IFE) system. This will also enable the IFE system to play music, television shows, or movies stored on the iPod, as well as function as a control system.^[46]

Newspapers and Magazines

Newspapers and magazines are available to all first and business class passengers on Emirates flights. Free newspapers are also provided to all economy class passengers. The Emirates in-flight magazine, Openskies, is provided to all passengers on all flights.

Frequent flyer programme

Main article: The Emirates Group#Skywards

Skywards is the frequent flyer program of Emirates, and other Emirates travel partners. Miles are earned through flights with Emirates, or with cooperating airlines such as Continental Airlines, Japan Airlines, Kingfisher Airlines, Korean Air, South African Airways, and United Airlines. Skywards offers status tiers Silver and Gold, which give additional benefits based upon miles flown in a yeaEmirates lounges

Main article: Emirates Lounge

First and business class passengers, as well as Skywards Gold and Silver members, have access to Emirates Lounges. In addition to the Emirates Lounge, Emirates passengers are able to use the Department of Civil Aviation's (DCA) First Class lounge in Dubai. The airline has 33 lounges in 16 cities, with plans for 13 more. It also has affiliation with 53 other lounges.

Cabin

First Class

First class passengers have a full suite, complete with closing doors to ensure privacy, a mini-bar, a coat rack and ample storage. The seat converts into a 2 metre (6 foot 7 inch) fully-flat bed. Private suites are currently being introduced on the latest B777-300ER/ULRs and B777-200LRs and are already installed on all of Emirates' 10 Airbus A340-500 aircraft. The suites are available on the Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Christchurch, Hamburg, New York JFK, Zurich, Osaka, Nagoya, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto and São Paulo routes.

Business Class

Emirates Business Class cabin, earlier style

In business class, the following features are included on Boeing 777-200LRs and the latest Boeing 777-300ER/ULRs:

• Airline seats with a 60" pitch that recline to angled lie-flat beds which are 78" long, with ample room for taller passengers on the newer planes
• Electrically operated massage, privacy partition, backrest recline, seat pan extension, footrest extension, leg rest extension and lumbar support.
• Adjustable winged headrest with six-way movement.
• Two individual reading lights and one overhead light in each seat.
• In-seat power supply and over 600 channels of entertainment on ICE, showed on a 17" wide TV screen.

A standard business class is offered on earlier model Airbus A330 and Boeing 777 aircraft, with a traditional reclining seat.

Economy Class

Emirates Economy Class

The seat has a seat pitch of 34 in (86 cm) (Boeing 777-200/300, Airbus A340-500 & some Airbus A340-300's) or 32 in (81 cm) (Airbus A330-200 and other non retrofitted aircraft) and a width of 17 in (43 cm) (Boeing 777 & Airbus A340) or 18 in (46 cm) (Airbus A330 and certain aircraft) as well as a 150° seat recline. Like standard economy class seats, adjustable headrests and footrests are available on every seat. On the Airbus A340-500 and newer aircraft there is a 10.6 in (25 cm) screen, and 16.5 cm (6.5 inches) on Airbus A330-200, certain Airbus A340-300 and older Boeing 777-300 aircraft that have not been retrofitted with the new cabins, for in-flight entertainment and in-seat power supply at selected seats.

Business model

Emirates business model has led to their commercial success in the aviation industry.The airline has a lean workforce which can be compared to low-cost carriers rather than traditional flag carriers. It has a simple organisational structure, that allows the airline to maintain low overhead costs and it must pay no income taxes on wages. Due to the low operating costs at its Dubai base, some industry analysts believe the airline is second only to Ryanair on a cash cost per seat basis.Therefore, the airline is able to serve secondary destinations as well as connecting to places via their hub in Dubai.

The airline has not joined any major global airline alliances. The airline operates only wide-body aircraft which results in lower unit costs compared to other major airlines operating a mixture of narrow and wide-body aircraft. It allows Emirates to use the aircraft's cargo capacity to increase its revenues and total profits. Since Dubai International Airport does not have any flying restrictions at night, the airline is able to highly utilise their aircraft. The airline virtually does not have any legacy costs compared to other airlines. It also helps that all forms of strikes are banned in the UAE (except for construction related strikes).

HISTORY

The airline was established on May 25, 1985 by the Dubai government and was supported by the founder of the German airline Germania, Hinrich Bischoff, in its beginning.^{[citation needed]} It started operations with flights to Karachi and Mumbai followed by Delhi in September. Two Airbus A300 and Boeing 737-300 were leased from Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). Subsequently two Boeing 727-200 Advanced were acquired from the UAE's Royal Flight. These aircraft were used until Emirates began taking delivery of a fleet of newly built Airbus A300-600R and Airbus A310-300 wide-body aircraft.

The first European destination to be added in July 1987 was London Gatwick and Far Eastern operations commenced to Singapore in June 1990. Emirates acquired a financial stake of 43.6%^[9] and a management contract for Air Lanka on 1 April 1998, which subsequently changed its name to SriLankan Airlines. In January 2008, Emirates announced that it will pass the management of SriLankan Airlines to the Sri Lankan government in April 2008.^[9][10] There are no plans to remove or decrease the stake in the airline.^[9]

Emirates received the airline of the year award for the first time in 2001 and repeated the feat in 2002. Emirates Airline is wholly owned by the Government of Dubai and has 20,273 employees.

BRITISH AIRWAYS

British Airways plc (LSE: BAY) is the national airline and flag carrier of the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. Its main hubs are London Heathrow and London Gatwick. British Airways holds a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating Licence, and is permitted to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats. British Airways is a founding member of the Oneworld airline alliance.

The British Airways Group was formed on 1 September 1972 consisting of BOAC and BEA. These two companies were dissolved on 31 March 1974 to form British Airways (BA). The company was privatised in February 1987. It expanded with the acquisition of British Caledonian in 1988 and some of the routes of Gatwick-based carrier Dan-Air in 1992. The formation of Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic in 1984 began a tense relationship with BA which ended in "one of the most bitter and protracted libel actions in aviation history" in 1993 in which BA apologised "unreservedly" for an alleged "dirty tricks" campaign against Virgin and paid damages and legal costs.

Traditionally a Boeing customer, BA placed its first direct order for Airbus aircraft in November 1998. The company's next major order was the commencement of its replacement of its long haul fleet, ordering Boeing 787s and Airbus A380s in 2007. British Airways' strategy and aircraft purchases are seen as an industry "benchmark" that influences other carriers' decisions.

In 2008 BA unveiled its new subsidiary OpenSkies which will take advantage of the liberalization of transatlantic traffic rights, and fly non-stop between major European cities and the United States. Operations are expected to begin with a single Boeing 757 in June 2008.

British Airways has been plagued by difficulties in recent years. The Association of European Airlines reports that BA is the worst airline for lost and delayed baggage, losing over twice as many bags as the average. They are also the worst airline for punctuality of short/medium haul flight departures and arrivals and ranked 17th out of 21 airlines for long haul delays. Many of BA's problems stem from being based at London Heathrow airport which has become crowded and subject to delays.In 2007 Heathrow was voted the world's least favourite alongside Chicago O'Hare in a TripAdvisor survey. The opening of their new terminal, Heathrow Terminal 5 was heavily criticised by politicians, unions, airlines and passengers as an operational disaster.