Qatar Airways signs IT deal in Hong Kong with OAG Cargo

QATAR Airways Cargo and IT firm OAG (Official Airline Guide) Cargo have signed a global deal to publish service announcements and airfreight rates to customers using OAG's internet portal.

By using OAG Cargo's Inforwarding Announcements service, Qatar Airways Cargo will secure access to 40,000 freight forwarding users in 18 countries, said a joint statement issued by the two companies.

More than 220 airlines and cargo general sales agents use OAG Cargo to achieve real-time communication of services and schedules changes to customers in key markets worldwide.

The deal was signed at last week's Air Freight Asia 2007 conference and exhibition in Hong Kong.

Qatar Airways Cargo will also use OAG Cargo's Air Freight Rates (AFRA) application for rates management and distribution. It plans to upload all of its rates onto the AFRA service by the end of the year.

There are now over 4.2 million rates published on AFRA, posted by 450 airlines. The service has more than 9,000 freight forwarding users.

Said Qatar cargo chief John Batten: "We recognise OAG Cargo as a proven and cost efficient way to keep our customers around the world informed about our growing network and services and to enable them to obtain easy access to accurate and timely rate information.

Qatar runs a fleet of 58 Airbus aircraft to 78 destinations worldwide and is expected to almost double to 110 aircraft by 2015. Qatar has ordered 80 Airbus A350s in a deal worth more than US$16 billion and 22 Boeing 777s with deliveries of the latter starting in November.