"We have made history here at Qatar Airways," says Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker. "We are the first airline to be audited by the IOSA system, and have passed with a 100-per cent satisfactory record."

IOSA is a newly implemented internationally recognised system, set up to standardise and rationalise a number of safety and security audits carried out by individual airlines for code sharing purposes.

"The independent auditors from Aviation Quality Service GmbH in Frankfurt, Germany, were tremendously impressed by our high safety standards, and all the safety and security procedures that are in place," he adds. "I had no doubt that Qatar Airways would pass the audit, and would set the standard for other airlines to follow. It is good to have proved to the world that our security and safety procedures are all meeting the highest standards."

Qatar Airways is now automatically compliant with both the US air safety regulations (FAA) and European air safety regulations (JAROPS), and is able to join in code sharing agreements with other airlines around the world, without having to undergo a further audit.

"We were audited on our flight and ground operations, aircraft engineering and maintenance, operational security, cabin operations, and corporate organisation and management systems. The audit took five days, before the 100 per cent pass was announced for all areas," he says. "Qatar Airways has all the ingredients to be attractive to other airlines for code shares and alliances, and having proved to the world that we have exceptionally efficient safety standards, just adds to our attraction."

Qatar Airways is currently code sharing with six airlines in Europe and the Far East and is considering further code shares in order to increase our number of destinations served. IATA brings together close to 280 airlines worldwide, with flights by these airlines comprising over 95 per cent of all international schedules air traffic. All the airlines will have to undergo the new IOSA audit within the next two years.

Qatar Airways has recently won a number of awards recognising its premier service policy. Skytrax voted Qatar Airways to have the best cabin service in the Middle East, ranking it fifth in the world.

Qatar Airways has established itself as one of the fastest growing airlines in the world. Building on a reputation of premium customer care, the airline has launched an aggressive growth plan to ensure that it can offer passengers a greater choice of destination, a wider variety of flight times and the latest onboard products and services.

Qatar Airways currently serves 42 destinations throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, and is hoping to extend its route network to 50 destinations by the end of 2003. The airline recently signed an agreement with Airbus for an order of 34 aircraft in a $5.1-billion deal, part of a plan to increase its fleet to 56 by 2008.

Qatar Airways operates a number of subsidiary companies including Qatar Aviation Services, Qatar Aviation Catering Company, United Media International, Qatar Airways Holidays, Doha International Airport, and Qatar Duty Free.