DOHA: Over the next five years Qatar Aviation Services (QAS) is committed to furthering its ongoing projects, both within and beyond Doha, focusing on its key strategic pillars – safe and secure operational delivery, customer experience, employee engagement, and financial performance and investments.

Using state-of-the art equipment and technology, QAS has offered seamless 24/7 operations in 2023/24, with its multicultural team of employees from more than 54 countries handling over 251,000 flights – delivering an On-Time Performance (OTP) rate of more than 99 per cent and meeting the special assistance needs of over 877,000 passengers, Qatar Airways Group annual report for the financial year 2023/24 has revealed.

Now celebrating its 24th year of operation, Qatar Aviation Services is Qatar Airways Group’s multiple award-winning, end-to-end ground services organisation. Headquartered at Hamad International Airport (DOH), QAS has continued to establish itself as a global industry leader throughout the 2023/24 fiscal year, exceeding the standard ground handling service experience for more than 45 million passengers annually, in addition to VIPs, private fleets, executive charter flights and cargo operators.

The team has also processed more than 59 million items of baggage, with a low mishandling rate of only 0.59 file per 1,000 passengers, in addition to the production of over 196,000 load sheets. In its cargo operations, QAS currently handles in excess of 2.4 million tonnes per year and is proud to have, once again, achieved an efficient On-Time Delivery (OTD) rate of 99.83 per cent.

On the air-side, the QAS team managed more than 3,200 motorised and over 6,000 non-motorised items of equipment, maintaining 99 per cent of the fleet available.

A member of the IATA Ground Handling Partnership, QAS proactively participates in a variety of a world leading technical groups, addressing ground handling issues and implementing industry best practices while promoting efficiency improvement initiatives.

QAS has been successfully enrolled in the International Air Transport Association Safety Audit for Ground Operations (ISAGO) Program since 2014, and continues to maintain the highest safety standards for both its headquarters (DOH) and Station (DEL), remaining compliant with the ISAGO standards and requirements.

In addition to being an ISO 9001 certified ground handler, QAS also takes pride in becoming the first ground handler in the world to have attained the complete suite of IATA CEIV certifications – CEIV Fresh, CEIV Lithium Batteries, CEIV Live Animals, CEIV Pharma, IEnvA registered and the United for Wildlife programme.

Its role as a sector leader was further cemented in May 2023, when the team received the IATA Environmental Assessment Program (IEnvA) Certificate, enabling QAS to become the first ground handler to join the newly expanded IATA Environmental Assessment Program.

This not only minimised the environmental impact of its operations globally, but also played an instrumental role in helping Hamad International Airport gain its world-class standing as environmental leader among airports globally.