Qatar Airways opens a window of opportunity for Portugal

Qatar Airways Opens a Window of Opportunity for Portugal

Saturday, July 6, 2019

 

We were recently hired to communicate the launch of Qatar Airways' first flight to Portugal. At the time, it seemed to me just another client for whom we would do a mere media relations campaign, like so many others.

They started by asking us to organize a press conference at 6:00 AM at Lisbon Airport so that journalists could witness the arrival of the first plane. After making half a dozen phone calls, I had to inform Qatar Airways that no Portuguese journalist would get up at 4:00 AM to go to the airport unless it was to travel. The inaugural flight was not, in fact, news that justified such a sacrifice.

A day after my information, I received a call from Qatar Airways saying: "Okay, then we'll take six journalists on the inaugural flight to Doha." I thought to myself, "For dire ills, dire remedies." Needless to say, the journalists accepted the invitation in a heartbeat and quickly forgot about the problem of the immoral early morning hours.

The big day arrived, and at 6:00 AM, we were all at the airport to witness the christening of the flight. Normally I don't attend these events, but this time I couldn't resist the curiosity to see firsthand what was going to happen.

 

 

When I arrived at check-in, I saw all the flight attendants lined up with huge smiles on their faces and the ground staff gathered for a briefing to welcome the guests. There was a certain nervousness in the air and an almost childlike excitement. I myself got emotional because, after all, we were witnessing a very important moment for both countries. We were not only celebrating the start of operations in Portugal (with daily flights connecting us to routes to more than 160 countries) but also the beginning of a new era in commercial and diplomatic relations between Portugal and Qatar..

 

 

The economic, political, and geostrategic implications of this new flight are immense and still difficult to assess. For now, the effect has been immediate on the price of flights from various airlines. For example, prices for Emirates and Turkish Airlines flights to Thailand have halved. But I believe the impact on Portuguese exports will be even greater. Currently, Qatar is under an embargo from the US and several Middle Eastern countries with which it shares a border. There is a shortage of products in almost all sectors of activity, and those that exist are expensive. Portugal has a huge window of opportunity here, with investors already waiting on both sides. The reception that followed, with the presence of ambassadors from both countries, CEOs of ANA and Qatar Airways, journalists, and VIP guests, made perfect sense. What didn't make sense was that the Secretary of State for Tourism, whose presence was confirmed, neither attended nor was represented.

 

 

 

 

Rosário Louro