Qatar Airways, please take all my Avios!

Qatar Executive joins Qatar Airways Privilege Club

Qatar Airways Group has a private jet division, known as Qatar Executive. There’s a fun development when it comes to this, as Qatar Executive has been added as a Qatar Airways Privilege Club member. With this, loyalty program members can now earn and redeem Avios, and even receive elite status, for Qatar Executive bookings.

How does this work?

• Privilege Club members can earn 4x Avios per one USD spent with Qatar Executive
• Privilege Club members can spend their Avios on Qatar Executive bookings, either to pay for a flight in full, or using Cash + Avios to save on journeys
• When booking Qatar Executive for the first time, members can choose one person to upgrade to Privilege Club Platinum, and three members to fast track to Privilege Club Gold

The Avios redemption rates for Qatar Executive aren’t published. Maybe I’ll give them a ring and see how far my Avios balance will get me on a G700. 😉

Here’s how Qatar Airways Senior Vice President of Loyalty, Thomas Vadakedath, describes this development:

“As Privilege Club continues to augment the loyalty programme with exclusive experiences for our members, we are proud to collaborate with Qatar Executive. Members who prefer flying in the comfort of private charters can now collect Avios when making their bookings with Qatar Executive. Furthermore, members can now also choose to experience the luxury of Qatar Executive by paying for their flight, either in full or part with Avios. We look forward to seeing our members benefit from this fruitful collaboration.”

Meanwhile here’s what Qatar Executive Vice President of Commercial, Trevor Esling, had to say: 

“As we continue to set the standard for business aviation, our partnership with Qatar Airways Privilege Club further enhances the exclusive benefits we offer to our clientele. The programme aims to reward our loyal passengers, while creating further synergies within the Qatar Airways Group. As a first-of-its-kind within our industry, we see it as another addition in providing a seamless and rewarding journey at every touchpoint.”

For those not familiar, Qatar Executive is an on-demand private jet service, offering charter services globally. The company currently has a fleet of 20 private jets, with nearly 10 more on order.

The biggest planes in the fleet are the Airbus ACJ319 (essentially a private jet version of the Airbus A319), then there’s the Bombardier Global 5000 (which is also massive), and then there are Gulfstream jets, including the G650ER and G700, which are some of the most capable private jets in service.

Perhaps what sets Qatar Executive apart from the competition is just how cutting edge its fleet is. The company was the launch customer for both the G650ER and G700. It’s a pretty snazzy fleet, but up until now we otherwise haven’t seen much integration between Qatar Airways and Qatar Executive. So it’s cool to see a loyalty collaboration.

That being said, I’m curious what the overlap is between people looking to charter a private jet that’s the size of a commercial aircraft, and those interesting in collecting miles & points. Or at least I wonder to what extent that moves the needle. Regardless, it sure is a fun collaboration, and talk about an aspirational redemption, eh?