Carrier prepares for opening of new European Customer Contact Centre in Polish city Of Wroclaw in February 2013 with creation of over 100 jobs.
WARSAW, POLAND – Qatar Airways has spoken of its long-term commitment to its newest market of Poland with last Wednesday’s route launch to the capital Warsaw and opening of a new European Customer Contact Centre in the city of Wroclaw early next year.
The expansion represents a significant move for Qatar Airways into an untapped market with Poland becoming the airline’s latest European country to establish a foothold in.
The Doha-based airline rounded off a busy 2012 year of expansion on December 5 with its 12th and final route launch of the year when it began operating non-stop scheduled flights from the State of Qatar to Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport.
Becoming Qatar Airways’ 32nd European gateway, the addition of Warsaw takes the airline’s global network to 122 destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America.
Looking forward to another busy year in 2013, Qatar Airways is planning further steps into the Polish market, busy preparing for the opening of a brand new European Contact Centre in Wroclaw that is set to initially create over 100 jobs.
The new multi-lingual Customer Contact Centre will handle all the airline’s European customer inquiries from key European markets by phone, fax and email. It will initially serve Poland, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Austria, with more countries to be added.
The fit-out and all technical installations necessary for the office located in the new Epsilon Building will be completed soon for a planned February 2013 opening.
The management team of the new Qatar Airways Customer Contact Centre in Wroclaw has been recruited and is in the process of hiring staff, specifically seeking applicants with excellent customer service skills and fluency in European languages.
Speaking at a press conference in Warsaw, Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said: “With the launch of our new flights to Warsaw and opening of our new customer contact centre in Wroclaw early next year, Qatar Airways is extremely delighted to support the local economy and give the people of Poland an exciting opportunity to travel with us and work us, initially creating over 100 new jobs.
“We are creating a great business venture contributing to both the country of Poland and our airline’s development.
“I sincerely thank our partners in Poland who have been instrumental in the airline’s expansion into this country. I am confident that the demand for services to and from here will steadily grow, allowing us further increase the airline’s frequencies on the Warsaw – Doha route over time,” added Al Baker.
“We are very pleased to provide travellers with a connection to the world from Warsaw, one of Europe’s fastest developing cities. Poles will gain great connections via our Doha hub to diverse cities such as Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Dubai, Johannesburg and Melbourne and will have the opportunity to experience our renowned five-star service.”
The Warsaw – Doha route is being operated four-times-a-week with a modern Airbus A320, featuring 144 seats in a two-class configuration of 12 in Business Class and 132 in Economy. The aircraft offers seatback TV screens providing passengers with the next generation interactive onboard entertainment system and a choice of more than 800 audio and video on demand options, together with an SMS text messaging service from each seat.
Warsaw becomes the third destination after Zagreb and Belgrade to be added to Qatar Airways’ flight schedules in Central Eastern Europe this year.
Al Baker spelled out more destinations were being looked at across Europe, but the immediate focus was to build up the network in the Middle East, Asia and North America. The airline plans to serve 170 destinations with 170 aircraft within three years. It currently operates a modern fleet of 114 aircraft.
will launch services to a diverse portfolio of new routes during the first half of 2013, namely to Gassim, Saudi Arabia (7 January 2013); Najaf, Iraq (January 23); Phnom Penh, Cambodia (February 20); Chengdu, China (March 19); Chicago, USA (April 10); and Salalah, Oman (May 22).
Since the beginning of 2012, Qatar Airways has launched flights to 12 new destinations – Baku (Azerbaijan); Tbilisi (Georgia); Kigali (Rwanda); Zagreb (Croatia), Erbil (Iraq), Baghdad (Iraq), Perth (Australia), Kilimanjaro (Tanzania); Yangon (Myanmar), Maputo (Mozambique), Belgrade (Serbia) and now, Warsaw (Poland).
The Doha – WARSAW schedules, effective 5 December 2012 – 4-times-a-week.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
