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A Flight with Qatar Airways CEO - World's First Fully Vaccinated Flight - YouTube
Channel: Sam Chui
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- Qatar Airways operated
[1]
the world's first fully vaccinated flight
[4]
on the 6th of April, 2021,
[6]
beating their competitor,
Emirates, by a few days.
[10]
But the Qatar flight was very different
[12]
to the Emirates flight.
[13]
The Qatar flight was
an invite flight only,
[16]
to staff, to travel partners, and media.
[20]
I think the decision
to operate that flight,
[22]
obviously driven by the Group CEO,
[24]
who want to put his airline
in the news headlines.
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Let's take a look at that flight.
[29]
(upbeat music)
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- Welcome to the world's
first fully vaccinated flight.
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- [Passenger] Good morning!
[37]
(both reply in foreign language)
[38]
Yeah, looking forward to this flight.
[40]
- We too.
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Very honoured to have you onboard.
[42]
- So what is so special
making this flight today
[44]
is it's a fully vaccinated flight,
[46]
starting with the flight deck, cabin crew,
[48]
passenger, even the ground staff,
[51]
perhaps the (indistinct),
I don't know yet.
[53]
This effort is making a
record to rejoin our back
[56]
a normal life, without mask
and getting over this pandemic,
[62]
and move on forward.
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The flying time today
two hours and a half.
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We will be cruising at 40,000 feet,
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flying over Doha, UAE, Maskat in Oman,
[72]
making a U-turn to rejoin Doha.
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- Our call sign today is Qatari 6421,
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which is actually a weird number,
[80]
but actually it's the date of today,
[83]
which is 6th of April '21,
[85]
and that to make history as
a fully vaccinated flight
[90]
being done today.
[92]
(plane engine rumbling)
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(Pilots speaking indistinctly)
[119]
(engine humming)
[123]
(pilots speaking indistinctly)
[126]
(upbeat music)
[135]
- Before on the flight,
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I've got a rare chance to interview
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the Chief of Qatar Airways.
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So let's hear him out.
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Your airline's doing very different
[145]
to all the other airline this crisis.
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Other airlines are trimming routes,
[150]
cutting out operations, grounded,
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but you keep flying during the pandemic.
[155]
You started launching flights
instead of cutting out.
[158]
You've gone to Seattle, San
Francisco, all the destinations,
[162]
so what is this?
[163]
Is this commercial sensible?
[165]
- Sam, you know me for quite some time,
[168]
and you know that I'm
a very shrewd operator.
[171]
I will always take every
single opportunity I have
[176]
to find revenue for my airline.
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And when everybody shut their door,
[181]
people still want to travel,
[183]
and there we are to serve them.
[185]
We carried 3.8 million passengers,
[188]
we repatriated them.
[190]
When all the airlines left
their passengers stranded,
[195]
we were there.
[196]
We will always go where
we feel people need us,
[201]
and we will always go where
we know there is opportunity.
[205]
Frankly, we are a state-owned company,
[209]
so there is no question of bailout.
[211]
Whatever funding we would get
is an equity into the company.
[218]
And we, the largest long-haul carrier
[221]
operating in the world today,
[223]
we received the lowest equity
injection of any airline,
[228]
who have received billions
in state aid and subsidy.
[235]
(upbeat music)
[237]
- Doctor, everybody's wondering
[240]
when we were able to return
to that normalcy of travel
[244]
without wearing mask, the
borders will be open travelling.
[248]
Do you see that, with the
vaccine, how this happening soon?
[252]
- So Sam, at the moment,
[253]
the advice from our
Ministry of Public Health
[254]
is that we should wear masks
[256]
unless we're eating or drinking,
[259]
but I'm quite convinced
that with more data,
[262]
and more experience,
[263]
we'll know that these vaccines
[264]
are actually very, very safe,
[265]
and that, we will, in the future,
[267]
be able to travel without masks.
[269]
Well Sam, medically, we'd
like to try and vaccinate
[272]
the whole world, but economically,
[274]
that's not going to be viable
within the next few months.
[277]
And so what we will find
is that certain countries
[280]
will be able to vaccinate,
[283]
and their citizens will be
able to travel more freely.
[286]
It's an economic reality.
[288]
- Do you require passenger
eventually to be vaccinated
[291]
to onboard Qatar Airways?
[293]
- Eventually, I think,
that will be a requirement
[296]
for many countries.
[297]
For example, Australia
will not allow people
[300]
that are not vaccinated
to enter the country.
[304]
If this pandemic continues,
[305]
and if there is no
proper, robust treatment,
[309]
I think many other countries
[311]
will require that you have
a vaccination passport
[314]
to get in.
[317]
(upbeat music)
[320]
- Today we are focusing on
serving our full lunch service
[324]
for our 41 premium customers,
[327]
including customers who
are in the Economy cabin.
[330]
It is a full premium services for today,
[333]
so I hope you will enjoy it.
[335]
(upbeat music)
[341]
- That is very nice because (indistinct)
[344]
is giving to me up, really.
[346]
- [Sam] This duck is huge!
[347]
- Yes.
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- [Flight Attendant]
Yeah, it is very nice.
[349]
- [Passenger] Very good stuff.
[350]
- [Sam] Are you sure that's duck?
[350]
- Amazing, amazing.
[352]
- [Sam] Yeah, you're sure that's duck
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you're eating?
- Yeah, I'm sure (indistinct).
[354]
- [Sam] Okay, okay.
[355]
(Donald Duck recording)
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- Thank you.
(all laughing)
[359]
- [Sam] Funny guy.
[360]
Now, how's your flight been?
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- Oh, amazing fun, really.
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- [Sam] How much you've
travelled during the last year?
[365]
- Oh, I didn't travel
during the last year.
[368]
This is my first flight.
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- [Sam] You feel like same like before?
[373]
- Oh, amazing.
[374]
Especially with Qatar Airways.
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- I seriously cannot find the right words
[380]
to describe our feelings today.
[382]
Just to getting back to our
normal life, travelling.
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- I'm so blessed (speaks in
Spanish), for this blessing,
[392]
and I'm so lucky for being in this flight
[395]
with all fully vaccinated people,
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enjoying these beautiful blue views,
[399]
and making history.
[400]
(speaks in Spanish)
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- When you talk about an airline,
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people think about the
planes, maybe the food,
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the cabin crew, the image, the marketing,
[409]
but when a lot of people
think about Qatar Airways,
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they think about you, His Excellency.
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What will Qatar Airways
be like without you?
[419]
Have you ever thought about that?
[421]
- We have a succession plan.
[423]
You know, it is something that
I built with the full support
[428]
of my rulers, and the
goodwill of the Qatari people.
[433]
And it is my duty to have a
robust succession plan in place,
[437]
which is already there.
[439]
So if I'm there or not, Qatar Airways,
[442]
is a brand of my country, will continue.
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And you know, all leaders, all managers,
[449]
all heads of department, come and go,
[453]
but the organisation still continue.
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And this is what will
happen with Qatar Airways.
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Till the last day I am on this chair,
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as the Group Chief Executive,
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I will continue to do my
service towards my country,
[467]
and the mandate given to me
by His Highness, my ruler.
[470]
- Flights are resuming back
to Saudi Arabia, to UAE,
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what's that mean for Qatar
Airways from now at this point?
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- Well, it is a very positive
development that happened.
[483]
We persevered during the difficult days,
[486]
now we are back into the mainstream.
[489]
Our operating costs
have started to reduce,
[494]
what it really should be,
[496]
and we hope that business for all of us,
[500]
all the blockading countries
together, comes to normalcy,
[504]
because I don't think
that within families,
[507]
this kind of animosity,
or bullying, is not fair.
[513]
And at the end, everybody realised
[517]
it was in the best interest
to end this blockade,
[522]
and, you know, get our
lives back to normal.
[526]
(upbeat music)
[529]
- This experience has been a reminder
[531]
of what life used to be
like before the pandemic.
[534]
So it was a nice change to
be able to cover something
[537]
that has a positive (indistinct)
as a positive light.
[541]
- I travel quite a lot,
[543]
and travelling on a fully
vaccinated flight is marvellous,
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frankly, because I'd rather travel
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with people that are vaccinated.
[555]
And, I think, I'm 70 plus,
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and I don't have enough
of my life, going forward,
[562]
to be stuck going nowhere.
[566]
- I'm Valerie from Trusted Travel Girl,
[568]
and I came all the way from
New York to Doha, last minute.
[573]
I found out the day before I left,
[576]
and I'm so excited to be here.
[578]
This is so much better,
[579]
and of course, I feel so much safer.
[581]
Look at this, I have my
own private little area
[585]
where I feel really safe, protected,
[588]
and away from everybody.
[589]
(upbeat music)
[592]
- What about the future of the A380?
[594]
Is there any plan to
use some of them back?
[597]
- Frankly, Sam, we have
already taken impairment
[600]
on five of them,
[602]
so we are writing off
five of the 10 we have,
[606]
and if the pandemic continues to extend,
[610]
we may, over the next
two, three years period,
[614]
take impairment on the remaining five.
[617]
I don't think, and I
have been telling this
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for much before the pandemic,
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there is no future for the A380.
[625]
It was a wrong aeroplane
in the wrong time.
[629]
It is something that passengers love.
[632]
They like to travel on an A380.
[634]
It's very quiet, it's very spacious,
[637]
but at the end of the
day, for the operator,
[640]
it's really painful.
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The operating cost, the maintenance cost,
[647]
the maintenance period.
[648]
You know, you put a 380 for a C check,
[652]
it is three times what a 777 will take,
[655]
or a 350-1000 will take.
[658]
You know, if you look at
the fuel burn per seat mile,
[663]
it's way above any other
aeroplane that is flying today.
[667]
And, you know, it is
the aim of Qatar Airways
[670]
to keep on growing, and being
carbon neutral in our growth,
[675]
that aeroplane doesn't help us.
[677]
And I think, not only
that it is inefficient,
[680]
and some people still brag
[682]
that they're going to start operating,
[684]
and it's a very fine aeroplane,
[688]
let's see how long they
will be able to sustain.
[691]
And after the pandemic,
there is a huge movement
[694]
on the green front.
[696]
Passengers will not want
to get into an aeroplane
[698]
that has high pollution rating.
[701]
So, you know, we need to do...
[703]
And in Qatar Airways, if
tomorrow they produce an aircraft
[707]
that has a more efficient fuel burn,
[712]
we will immediately place order
[714]
for those aeroplanes .
[716]
(soft music)
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- So Mr. Chui, how was the experience?
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- [Sam] Good, just like any
other Qatari Airways flight.
[724]
No less, no more.
[725]
- And, hopefully, next
time we will see you
[728]
without the mask, and everything
will be normal. (laughs)
[731]
- [Sam] Thank you so much.
[734]
(plane engine humming)
[750]
(mechanical voice counting down)
[773]
- Like everyone has been
asking, and thinking,
[775]
do we really need to be
fully vaccinated to travel,
[778]
to fly in the future?
[780]
To me, I think that requirement
[782]
is not mandated by the airline,
[785]
but is more depends on
the destination country.
[788]
Right now, we are seeing
quite a few country
[791]
wanting to reopen to accept
fully vaccinated tourists only.
[795]
So we're still in this early stage,
[797]
developing solution,
[799]
hoping to see more
light out of the tunnel,
[801]
and I will be continue to document
[804]
how aviation respond to the COVID crisis.
[808]
Thanks for watching today.
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