Koleilat (left) accepts the award at the 2015 CAPA Aviation Awards for Excellence event held in Singapore.

Qatar Airways was named Asia Pacific Airline of the Year at 2015 CAPA Aviation Awards for Excellence event held in Singapore.
“We have made great strides in consolidating our leadership in the aviation business this past year, and much of the credit goes to the entire team at Qatar Airways who bring our award-winning product and service to life each and every day,” its chief executive Akbar al-Baker said.
Qatar Airways senior vice president for South East Asia and South West Pacific, Marwan Koleilat, accepted the award on behalf of the airline.
The national carrier, a member of the ‘oneworld’ global alliance, was selected by the judging panel for its remarkably fast expansion and rapid emergence as a global leader.
The candidates were independently researched and short-listed by a team of analysts at CAPA Centre for Aviation and by partners at Heidrick & Struggles. Winners were then selected by an independent and separate panel of judges.
For the Asia Pacific Airline of the Year and the Asia Pacific Airline Chief Executive of the Year categories, votes were also solicited and received from 20 high level industry executives. For these categories, a winner was selected by combining the votes from the panel with the votes from the sample of industry executives.
Qatar Airways has seen rapid growth in just 18 years of operations. In 2014, the Doha-based carrier added 11 new destinations to its global network and was subsequently awarded World’s Best Airline, Best Business Class Airline Seat, and Best Airline in the Middle East at the annual Skytrax 2015 World Airline Awards earlier in June.
Qatar Airways has pursued rapid growth over the last year, launching more than 10 new destinations and adding capacity to numerous existing destinations, said CAPA executive chairman Peter Harbison.
Other milestones from 2014 included moving to a new hub airport in Doha, taking delivery of its first A380 and becoming the launch operator of the A350, he added.