Qatar Airways' Response to COVID-19: Strategies and Challenges Faced

This case study examines Qatar Airways' response to the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the company's objective of ensuring the safety of employees and citizens. The airline implemented several strategies, including the temporary suspension of flights to affected areas, changes to its commercial policies to offer greater flexibility to customers, and the installation of advanced thermal cameras for temperature screening at airports. Challenges included operational disruptions due to travel restrictions and entry bans imposed by various countries. The study acknowledges the negative financial impact of flight cancellations and policy changes but emphasizes the long-term benefits of maintaining customer goodwill. Lessons learned highlight the importance of cooperation between companies and customers in adhering to safety guidelines and prioritizing public health during a global crisis. Desklib offers a variety of resources for students, including past papers and solved assignments.

Corona Virus

QATAR AIRWAYS
 Company Background and its customers
Qatar Airways is known as one of the largest global airline. The company serves all
the six continents and has a direct link with more than 160 destinations. Qatar was
established in 1997 and achieved 5 star rating by Skytrax. The main aim of the
company is to influence the customers to make “Qatar their first choice and for this
the company provides flights to different destinations”.
The Chief Executive of the company is Mr Akbar Al Baker who is also known as the
famous recognisable figure in the entire aviation sector. The company has an
objective of enhancing the satisfaction level of the customers towards the services
offered by them. Presently, the company flies more than 200 aircrafts to more than
160 destinations across the six continents (Qatar Airways, 2020).
Qatar Airways also supports “Educate a Child Programme” that focuses to minimize
the number of children worldwide. It is examined that the company also has the
collaboration with local non-profit organization and works on different projects in
local and international communities. The few projects are Medical centre in Pakistan
with Qatar Charity. Supporting Autism Speaks and Supporting MADA Assistive
Technology Centre. It is identified that there are also various sponsorships considered
by the company such as Federation international de Football Association (FIFA),
Qatar Tennis Federation Tournaments: Men’s open and ladies open, CHI AL
SHAQAB and Sydney Swans. Qatar Airways also emphasizes on maintaining
commitment towards environment (Qatar Airways, 2020c).
The Company supports “Air Traffic Control authorities” to move towards the airspace
management and also it collaborate to enable the customers to use e-tickets to
minimize the use of paper tickets. The environment management system is also
certified to the level of “IATA’s Environmental assessment programme” (Qatar
Airways, 2020d).Also, the company serves both Middle and High class people and
also they offer the lowest available fare to maintain their customer base in the
competitive business environment. The objective of change
The main objective of change is related with the safety of the employees and citizens.
Corona Virus has spread all over the world and infected thousands of citizens of
different countries. It has been examined that Qatar is the 2nd country in Arab World
in which more than 439 are confirmed, total recovered are 48 with 1 death. The first
case was confirmed on 27th February 2020and the cases were mostly identified among
the people who are coming from Iran (Bitmez, 2020).
For company safety of the citizens is the first priority so by considering the increasing
numbers, Qatar Airways suspended many flights. So in this way the main objective of
change was to reduce the number by considering the safety of the visitors and citizens
of Qatar.
So, Qatar Airways has focused towards the change which is linked with the changes
in their policies of the company related to issuing a travel alert on COVID -19 and
also by considering the safety measures related to different tests. The company
adopted the strategy of testing each and every passenger who was visiting through
flights. It was also done to create awareness among the citizens and also to secure
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them from virus. When the cases enhanced in the market the company also cancelled
some of the services with the main objective of safety. The strategy (s) to implement change and how long it takes
The strategy related with implementing the change is linked with “temporary
suspension of flights. The company firstly suspended the flights to and from Italy as
this the country is majorly affected by the Coronavirus outbreak. Qatar Airways also
brought change in their commercial policy related to the tickets. The company
believes that there are some passengers who wish to make some alteration in their
existing plans. So, by considering COVID-19 crisis, the company altered their
commercial policy to offer maximum flexibility and peace among their customers
(Travel Network, 2020).
Qatar also worked with global and national authorities to consider the latest advice
and guidelines on COVID-19. The company decided that the customers who are
travelling with Qatar Airways up to June 2020 can alter their travel plans without
giving any code or can opt for the travel voucher up to three days prior to departure.
Also, the customers who are affected due to this virus can re-book their tickets or can
ask for full refund without any charge. If the tickets are on the given dates by the
management then it will not be covered in the policy and normal fare rules will be
applied for re-booking or cancellations (Travel Network, 2020).
Other strategy considered by the company relates with installation of advanced
thermal camera. Qatar Airways installed 10 advanced thermal camera’s through
which it would be easy to record thee body temperature of travellers. The thermal
camera were operated under the guidance of the doctirs and also the team of nurses
from MoPH and Hamad Medical Corporation (Gulf Times, 2020).
Also, the company set up medicial clinic inside the airport to deal with the suspected
cases. The doctors and nurses with emergenncy departmenet were also available at
HIA. Also, at the time of screening examination at HIA, there are also various
awareness campaigns inside the aircrafts that are coming from China and the
awareness is spread before arriving at DOHA (Gulf Times, 2020).
Therefore, it can be examined that these are the best strategies considered by Qatar
Company to reduce the impact of disease and the decisions were taken on immediate
basis and for short term period to control the increasing numbers of COVID-19
patients. The challenges and how they were faced (human-technological-external)
One of the major challenges is linked with operational challenge which is faced by the
company due to the entry restrictions imposed by different countries. Due to
restrictions, the company has to change their operational routes which also enhanced
frustration level of customers.
Rescheduling of the flights was done to maintain the balance and also many times the
company has changed their schedules on short notice due to government guidelines.
The temporary suspension decision taken by the company also impacted the people
intending to come from these countries, including visas upon arrival and also
temporary visitors (Economic Times, 2020).
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The external challenge also relates with the Entry restriction into Qatar. The company
also banned the entry of the people who were coming from India, China, Bangladesh,
Sri Lanka, Thailand and Syria. The government of Qatar taken these taken on March
8 and said that these are the preventive measure taken to reduce the increasing number
of COVID-19 patients.
The government stated that passport holders of the other nations will not be allowed
from March 16. All these are the challenges faced by the company presently and they
were faced by considering all the updates given by the government of Qatar. They
were faced by the company by considering all the guidelines given by the
government. The company was following the overall guidelines so that the security of
the passengers can be maintained (Qatar Airways, 2020b). The outcome and lessons learned
The outcome which can be examined is that due to Corona virus companies have
implemented short term strategies to face the threat and negative impact. Due to
Corona Virus, Qatar Airways will definitely face lose as there are various restrictions
imposed by the government. Due to COVID-19, the company has to face many
cancellations which can result in the overall loss.
Due to the offer given by the company of rescheduling and cancellation will affect the
overall growth and also the market share of the company among its competitors but
this will be effective for the long term as with this the company will maintain
goodwill among the customers. Hence, it can be examined that due to Corona Virus
the outcome will be negative and it will directly affect the overall growth and success
ratio of the company in the highly competitive business world. At this time, it is
important for everyone to follow the guidelines given by the government as it can
help to reduce the overall effect of this virus.
The lesson learned by considering the overall scenario that customers should also
cooperate in the same way as different companies do by taking care of their health and
safety. The passengers should not visit or travel at public place if they have any
symptoms related to COVID-19. This can not only help to reduce the overall negative
impact but will also give power to fight against the crisis.
The change considered by Qatar Airways is important as it will help to secure the
lives of other people too. At this point of time isolation is one of the best way that can
help to fight against this virus. It is important to take care of others as it can destroy
the lives of many others too. It is learned that “You should be willing to trade your
freedom for the greater good of public”. So, be safe and be secure by isolating
ourselves for some time as it is good for other citizens and for other countries.
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References
Bitmez,S.. (2020). Reports. Retrived from:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/qatar-reports-another-38-people-infected-with-
covid-19/1768156
Economic Times . (2020). Qatar temporarily bans entry of people from India, 13 other
countries. Retrived from: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-
nation/qatar-bans-entry-of-people-from-india-13-other-countries-amid-
coronavirus-outbreak/articleshow/74548028.cms?from=mdr
Gulf Times. (2020).COVID19. Retrived from:
https://m.gulf-times.com/story/654093/Coronavirus-Qatar-launches-precautionary-
measures-passenger-screening-starts-at-HIA
Qatar Airways. (2020). About Us. Retrived from: https://www.qatarairways.com/en-
us/about-qatar-airways.html
Qatar Airways. (2020b).COVID-19 UPDATES. Retrived from:
https://www.qatarairways.com/en-in/travel-alerts/COVID-19-update.html
Qatar Airways. (2020c).Sponsorships. Retrived from:
https://www.qatarairways.com/en-us/sponsorship.html
Qatar Airways. (2020d).Enviornmental awareness. Retrived from:
https://www.qatarairways.com/en-us/about-qatar-airways/environmental-
awareness.html
Travel Network. (2020). Qatar Airways Coronavirus Updates. Retrived from:
https://travel-network.co/qatar-airways-coronavirus-updates/
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