Qatar Airways is not only the ''Official Airline'' of World Travel India, India''s first major international travel and tourism exhibition to be held in Mumbai from February 5-8, 2004, but has also taken up a 110 square metre stand, where it is showcasing its history, culture and future plans and is detailing Qatar''s rich heritage and tourism and economic might.

Mr. Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways chief executive officer said, "Qatar and Qatar Airways, both have very old and strong links to India. We treasure that and to show our commitment to the Indian market and to affirm the importance we place on our ties with India, we are here today before you," said to delegates at the accompanying forum.

As a show of commitment, Mr. Al Baker pointed to the resources the airline has put at the disposal of ''World Travel India.''

Qatar Airways has 28 services to India each week and is flying daily to each one of its four destinations: Kochi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Trivandrum.

"Within a short span since our inception, we have managed to add 48 major global destinations to our ever-expanding network. We added some ten destinations as diverse as Singapore, Shanghai, Vienna, Tripoli and Cebu late last year.

Mr. Al Baker revealed that immediate plans include the further breaching of the high-potential markets of Switzerland, Turkey, Egypt and Afghanistan over the next few months.

Qatar has recently signed an agreement with Bechtel to spend US$2.5 billion on just the first phase of a new international airport development. Qatar Airways is increasing its fleet to 52 aircraft in the next five years, and to 56 aircraft by 2011. It recently signed a US$ 5.1 billion order for 34 Airbus aircraft.

By the end of the year 2004 the airline will increase its fleet to 42 aircraft from the current 29.