Bunnik Tours Joint-CEO Dennis Bunnik visits Qatar Airways’ headquarters with camera and notebook in hand for an (almost) access-all-areas tour of one of the biggest airlines in the world. Here’s what he saw…
All of us within the travel industry get to do some pretty amazing things. For me, partying on the Nile with 50 travel agents and eyeballing finance minister Simon Birmingham during the height of the pandemic lobbying to let him know how angry we were, stand out as pretty surreal moments.
However, it was my visit to Doha last week that will go down as one of the best moments of my travel industry life. Actually, no. It was one of the best moments of my life all up.
As a self-confessed Avgeek – with my own flight review YouTube channel to prove it – I’ve always been fascinated by aircraft, and how airports and airlines work. I’m one of those people who look up whenever a plane flies overhead and immediately checks FlightRadar to see where it’s heading.
So when the head of communications at Qatar Airways came up to me at an event last year and told me he was a fan of my channel and asked me if I was interested in filming behind-the-scenes, I took exactly two nano-seconds to say ‘Yes Please!’.
Roll forward a few months to get the approvals and permissions sorted and there I was standing at the Employee Entrance at Hamad International Airport in Doha with my camera in hand.
Over the next two days, I had (almost) unvetted access to the behind-the-scenes operations at Qatar Airways. I say almost unvetted because the only restrictions they gave me were no interviewing staff on camera or filming their security badges. They also wouldn’t let me film the alcohol stores in their warehouse (but I could see them) and asked me to blur out any commercially sensitive information I may have captured on screens in the background. Other than that, they gave me the cook’s tour. And what a tour it was.
Obviously, you’ll need to check out the videos as are published on my YouTube channel (Dennis Bunnik Travels), but here’s a quick glimpse of what I saw.
What Happens After the Passengers Leave?
As soon as the last passengers had disembarked flight QR720 from Seattle I was allowed on board. I saw the cleaning crew in action and what they need to deal with after a 14 hour flight!
I was in the galley as they broke it all down and loaded the carts (all 120 of them) onto the trucks. I saw them dress the cabin as QR720 was transformed into QR914 to Adelaide.
Who Does the Dishes?
We then went over to the catering centre and saw what happens to the carts and bags of blankets and pillows that came off the flight. The numbers were mind-boggling.
This centre prepares 170,000 meals, takes in 7,000-8,000 dirty carts, washes 1.5 million items and processes 40 tons of laundry every day. That includes 100,000 blankets!
Where are the Crew?
Have you ever noticed how there are no Qatar Airways crew walking through the airport terminal in Doha? It turns out they have their own private airport terminal dedicated just to crew.
With almost 4,000 pilots and 14,000 cabin crew operating close to 500 flights a day the crew terminal is a hive of activity and even has its own lounge and duty free store.
Need to Move Some Horses?
I was on the main cargo deck of a 777 freighter as they loaded a couple of jet engines for a flight to Delhi.
I met some of the 13,000 pets that transit through Doha every year and got to see where they keep the horses between flights. In case you’re wondering over 12,000 horses are transported by Qatar Airways Cargo every year. And millions upon millions of fresh flowers!
The Other IOC
Forget the International Olympic Committee this is Qatar’s Integrated Operational Centre and it’s the beating heart that makes the whole airline tick.
The team within this centre manage operations from 45 days prior right up to the moment the aircraft powers down after a flight. Aircraft and crew scheduling happens here, cargo scheduling happens here, engineering decisions happen here. And when something goes wrong, like a medical diversion, this is the team that manages it.
To give you an idea how far into the inner sanctum this place goes, the senior manager showing me around told me he can’t wait to see the video because he’ll finally be able to show his family what he actually does!
To say I’m grateful for the experience is an understatement. The inner Avgeek inside me is still jumping around like an excited three-year-old.
RESPECT
The travel industry professional in me now has an even better understanding of just how complex running an airline the size of Qatar Airways is. And I can fully understand why they win so many awards. Their attention to detail to every aspect of the inflight experience is simply incredible.
But the thing that struck me most is just how many dedicated, unseen, hard-working people there are behind the scenes who make the magic of flight happen. And to them, on behalf of all of us and our customers, I say Thank You!
The first video (featuring the 777 pitstop and catering centre) will be out this Sunday. The rest will following in the coming months. Subscribe to Dennis Bunnik Travels on YouTube to see them all.
For more on Qatar Airways, click here.
Read Karryon’s review of Qatar Airways Business Class – Sydney to Doha.
We also tested QA’s Al Mourjan Business Lounge at Hamad International Airport in Doha.
