World's Largest Moving Billboard Unveiled

Qatar Airways, one of the fastest growing airlines in the world, has taken South Africa by storm by unveiling the world's largest-ever moving billboard to officially announce its arrival in the country.

The skies above South Africa's major cities of Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town were lit up in a Five Star aerial light display across the evening sky.

Five helicopters were used in each location to fly the "starry lights" over the three cities in perfect formation, to highlight Qatar Airways' award-winning Five Star service.

Qatar Airways, the national carrier of the State of Qatar in the Arabian Gulf, is one of only three "Five Star" ranked airlines in the world, an accolade awarded by the independent aviation industry monitoring agency, Skytrax.

Launched just 10 years ago, Qatar Airways has matured into a vibrant award-winning airline operating a modern fleet of 40 all-Airbus aircraft to 59 business and leisure destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Indian subcontinent and the Far East.

The spectacle, arguably the largest moving outdoor billboard in the world, heralded the launch of Qatar Airways' scheduled flights between Doha, capital of Qatar, and both Johannesburg and Cape Town.

The airline operates four flights per week between Doha and both South African cities, using an Airbus A330-200 in a two-class configuration of 24 seats in Business and 248 in Economy.

Qatar Airways appointed Cape Town-based events company Teamworks to develop a concept to promote the arrival of the airline in South Africa.

"Qatar Airways wanted us to develop a really 'Big' idea, so we decided to use as our main positioning point, the fact that Qatar Airways is a Five Star airline," said Teamworks Managing Director Steve Pearce. "We literally decided to put five stars in the sky above Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town to herald the arrival of this new Five Star airline," he added.

Teamworks contracted a local aviation company to construct powerful light systems rigged to the under belly of each of the five helicopters in each city.

The helicopter pilots were briefed to fly in perfect formation above each city for two and a half hours the evening of January 28, 2005, stopping to hover over various targeted populated areas for three to four minutes.

The display occurred simultaneously in each city and was designed to be clearly visible for many miles, and to arouse curiosity among millions of people who witnessed the event.

"We wanted people to look up and see these stars and start talking about them, to build up to the official launch and advertising of the airline," added Pearce.

The promotional campaign includes full-page ads taken by Qatar Airways in national papers across South Africa over the weekend to explain the Five Star show.

Speaking in Johannesburg ahead of a celebratory gala dinner, Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said he was delighted at the huge amount of interest shown by the South African public in Qatar Airways.

"Qatar Airways is spreading its award-winning Five Star service to a new market in South Africa to give passengers a taste of our excellent levels of service," said Al Baker.

"There are strong economic ties between the Middle East and South Africa and we are only too pleased to facilitate travel between the two regions.

"We have developed a thriving business that has become increasingly noticed by rest of the aviation industry which can only watch and admire how we have matured in just a short few years.

"We are not an airline which stands still. We are innovative, reflected by the Five Star night, with a campaign that will reach millions of people. We are proud to have highlighted our Five Star campaign with an outdoor moving billboard that is arguably the world's largest," he added.

Qatar Airways cabin crew were voted by Skytrax as the best in the Middle East for the second year running in 2004 and fifth best overall worldwide.

Key in-flight features of the airline include a revamped Business Class with a 60-inch seat pitch with each seat converting into a two-meter long bed. Every passenger has 15-inch seat-back TV monitors and five pre-programmed electronic seat controls for take-off, eating, reading relaxing and sleeping. The seats also have a back massage control function.

Qatar Airways was the first Middle East carrier to introduce First Class seat-cum-flat beds and features a new state-of-the-art Audio Video On Demand (AVOD) system for passengers traveling in First, Business and Economy Class across its long-haul Airbus A330 fleet.

Over the next few months, Qatar Airways is due to launch services to Osaka, Athens, Tunis and Algiers, with plans to serve 70 destinations worldwide by the end of the year.

Qatar Airways plans to double in size over the next few years and is one of the launch customers of the recently unveiled twin-deck A380 'super jumbos' with four orders scheduled for delivery beginning in 2009.

Construction work began earlier this month on the $5.5 billion New Doha International Airport with phase one due to open in 2009 to coincide with Qatar Airways taking delivery of its first A380.

Qatar Airways will manage and operate the airport, of which 40 percent will be built on reclaimed land from the Arabian Gulf. The new facility is designed to shape Doha as a key regional and global aviation hub.

FMI: www.qatarairways.com