Doha based Qatar Airways and Thales, the French multinational aerospace and defence corporation specialized in electronics, have today signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to establish a dedicated Inflight Entertainment (IFE) service and maintenance center based in Doha, Qatar.
Thales local facility aims to provide rapid access to comprehensive services such as repair, spare distribution, technical assistance and line maintenance for the full range of Thales IFE products.
For Qatar Airways, the facility will help the carrier achieving operational excellence along with supporting the airline's ambitious growth plans to serve the big fleet.
In line with Qatar Vision 2030, this partnership will contribute to the growth of the aerospace and MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Operations) ecosystem and bring high-skilled jobs to the country.
This MOU builds on a strong and long-standing relationship between the two companies. Over the years, Thales has been Qatar Airways’ trusted IFE provider for several aircraft platforms, including their Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, A350 and A380 aircraft.
This partnership was recently expanded to include Qatar Airways’ new A321 NX fleet, which will be equipped with Thales’ award-winning FlytEDGE cloud-native IFE solution.
FlytEDGE utilises cloud computing technologies, an open software platform and enables cutting-edge capabilities such as access to streaming platforms, live personalisation and gaming.
Qatar Airways Chief MRO Officer, Mr Ali Al Saadi said:
“We are pleased to see the progression of our work with Thales. It is vitally important that we continue to explore new ways to ensure our technology and capabilities are at the cutting edge of modern aviation, and I am confident that our partnership with Thales will enable this to happen.”
Thomas Got, Vice President, Aviation Global Services at Thales said:,
“Our partnership with Qatar Airways is growing stronger. This MOU underscores our shared commitment to even greater operational excellence and lays the groundwork for developing a local service hub and expertise in Doha, to support the airline’s future growth ambitions.”
In another development,Thales has plans to produce radar antennas in the UAE this year for domestic sales and export to global markets, as the UAE seeks more local manufacturing contracts and technical know-how transfers in its deals with international defence suppliers.
