Qatar Airways will move into the air charter jet market this year with three Bombardier business aircraft.  The airline’s chief executive made the announcement at the Paris Air Show.  Akbar al Baker said they are launching the new corporate jet division with “a Challenger 300, which is already operating, and two new Challenger 605s”.  The Challenger 605 carries up to twelve passengers and the Challenger 300 carries up to eight passengers.

The new corporate jet division will be named Qatar Executive and will be based in Doha alongside Qatar Airways.  Qatar’s entry into the air charter market comes as the business jet market has fallen 20% in the Gulf because of the economic slowdown, although local operators are doing better than those in Europe and North America.  Qatar Airways also made the biggest aircraft order the Paris Airshow with a solid contract for 24 aircraft in the Airbus A320 family, worth $1.9 billion (Dh 6.7bn).