Qatar Airways has reaffirmed its commitment to its Japanese routes and denied the recent rumours of withdrawing from Japan following participation in the Qatari-Japanese Economic Forum held in Tokyo on Friday, 20 February 2015.

The comments came following a forum visit led by the Emir of the State of Qatar, His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, and a group of VIP dignitaries from Qatar’s most significant organisations and companies.

Qatar Airways Group chief executive, His Excellency Akbar Al Baker, who was a keynote speaker in a workshop, said: “Since 2008, Qatar Airways has transported close to 1.5 million passengers on its flights to Japan, carried over 40,000 tonnes of cargo, and we are proud to say that we have generated 25 per cent year-on-year passenger traffic growth between Japan and Qatar since 2008.

“On 18 June last year, we touched down at Tokyo Haneda International Airport marking our third destination in Japan, and we are just as committed today to our Japanese routes as when we launched them. Qatar Airways continues to look forward to working together with our partners here to enhance our operations in Japan.”

The year 2014 was the “Year of the Fleet” for Qatar Airways with the introduction of its bespoke A380 of which the airline now has four, and the arrival of the Airbus A350, for which Qatar Airways is the global launch customer. Qatar Airways also introduced a new daily Boeing 787 Dreamliner service to Japan in June 2014 on its Doha–Tokyo Haneda route.