Qatar Airways VPs Sales & Loyalty On US Network Expansion And 1st US Branded Credit Card

Summary Qatar Airways is breaking records this summer with increased flights to major US cities – from Miami to Boston.
The airline focuses on expanding its network, especially to Africa and Southeast Asia, providing new travel opportunities.
North American passengers can take advantage of Qatar Airways’ loyalty program and new credit cards offering Avios and elite status perks.
As Qatar Airways operates its largest-ever North American program this summer, Simple Flying sits down with Craig Thomas and Thomas Vadakedath to discuss the carrier’s growth in the US, loyalty program, stopovers, and the perks of the airline’s new credit cards.
Breaking records this summer
This year, in particular, marks several milestones for the oneworld alliance carrier. Qatar Airways recently celebrated the 15th anniversary of its service to Houston, and last month celebrated the 10th anniversary of its Miami service, which is getting a frequency boost this summer to 10 flights a week, year-round.
According to Craig Thomas, Vice President of Sales – Americas at Qatar Airways, the airline introduced those three additional services as a seasonal rotation. However, based on the initial success of those additional frequencies, they have been upgraded to a permanent scheduled service. Like many of Qatar’s North American routes, the flights are operated by the carrier’s fleet of Airbus A350-1000, featuring 46 seats in Q suites.
Get all the latest airline route news right here.
Boston Logan Airport is also getting a boost this summer. The carrier has added three morning departures per week, marking the first time it has operated Boston more than daily. The additional rotation offers Bostonians access to a new range of Qatar Airways’ network points that connect off that morning departure bank from Boston. Speaking on the expansion, Thomas noted how significant the carrier’s presence in Boston is:
Boston has performed very, very well over the last few years. What we saw was there were some untapped traffic flows that we could really capitalize on by putting the morning rotation in.