Qatar Airways prepares for new hi-tech inflight sales era with DataFlight’s On Board Trader – 08/05/08

Qatar Airways is one of the world’s fastest growing carriers


QATAR. Qatar Airways is to become one of the first airlines in the world, and the first in the Middle East, to introduce the new, upgraded version of the On Board Trader from Dataflight Europe. The technology aims to enhance duty free sales service on board. The new system will go live on 12 May.

Qatar Duty Free Company Vice President Ms Krishna Kumari said: “We have been using the On Board Trader for our duty free sales for many years now and with the new technology of the On Board Trader we are continuing our long standing association with Dataflight Europe. It will enable us to offer both passengers as well as our cabin crew a much better service in conducting duty free sales onboard.”

DataFlight Europe CEO Jesper Schultz said: “We are very pleased that Qatar Airways will be one of our launch customers for the new technology On Board Trader, as we have long considered Qatar Airways to be one of our dedicated and highly professional partners. As a result of the order, DataFlight Europe has already delivered more than 130 new terminals of the kind that cabin crews can use for duty free sales onboard.”

The new technology will aid sales from the airline’s acclaimed inflight brochure


He added: “The most important innovative feature at our new On Board Trader is a module that allows payment with the much safer chip and pin credit cards. It is an extremely complicated technology that is needed to increase safety in credit card payments, but the crews will not notice the complexity.

“When the crew has inserted the chip-end of the credit card into the machine and the passenger has keyed in his four-digit code, the rest of the operation takes place unnoticed. And it takes place behind a new, sharper and clearer colour screen that also reveals that our new On Board Trader has now entered a Microsoft Windows environment. This means that the screen will appear more familiar for both passengers and aircrews,” Schultz said.

DataFlight Europe has integrated Qatar Airways’ existing On Board Traders into the company’s existing standard-based back office system, and with very few changes the new chip & pin terminals can directly take over the role of the older terminals.

About Qatar Airways
Qatar Airways is one of an elite group of carriers with a Five Star ranking for service and excellence awarded by Skytrax, the independent aviation industry research company. Skytrax also named Qatar Airways’ cabin crew as Best in the Middle East for the fifth year running in 2007 following a survey of more than 15 million passengers. It carries around 10 million passengers a year.

The National Carrier of the State of Qatar is pursuing an ambitious growth strategy in line with the country’s dynamic economic boom where huge infrastructure development projects are fuelling the growth. The airline currently operates a modern fleet of 62 Airbus and Boeing aircraft flying to 82 destinations worldwide. With an impressive outstanding orders including 80 of Airbus new-generation A 350’s, five twin-deck Airbus A 380s, 60 of Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliners and 30 Boeing 777s, Qatar Airways fleet expansion will take it well into the next decade.

For further information on the On Board Trader, contact Jesper Schultz, DataFlight Europe, tel. +45 70 22 82 92, email: js@dataflight.dk, or Jørgen Mouritzen, tel. +45 40 500 555.

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