Qatar Airways is set to unveil new first class cabins and a redesigned Qsuite business class product in the coming months.
The carrier’s group CEO Engr. Badr Mohammed Al-Meer – who replaced the long serving Akbar Al Baker in November last year – gave an interview to CNBC, details of which have also since been shared to other media by the airline’s press office.
Al-Meer confirmed that Qatar Airways is nearing completion of designs for new first class cabins, which will be introduced “on some of its fleet”.
The news differs from previous assertions from Al Baker who questioned the future of the carrier’s first class, which is currently only available on a handful of the airline’s A380 aircraft.
“Based on the demand from certain sectors, we see a high demand for First Class, and as such, have decided to introduce a newly-designed First Class cabin unique to Qatar Airways,” said Al-Meer.
“No one can develop a First Class cabin better than us – we are combining the experience of flying commercial and executive jets to develop something new. We are 70 to 80 per cent ready and are only finalising colours. We are hoping to announce it soon.”
Al-Meer also said that a redesigned Qsuite business class product would be unveiled at this year’s Farnborough International Airshow in July.
The current suite was launched in 2017, and has been reviewed several times by Business Traveller, most recently in December 2022.
Qatar Airways’ business class has been popular with our readers long before the introduction of the Qsuite, with the carrier having won Best Business Class at the annual Business Traveller Awards each year since 2013.
