Qatar Airways and FIFA have extended their sponsorship deal, the Gulf carrier remaining the official airline partner of the football association, according to Sport Business.
Although details of the renewal have not yet been revealed by the two, according to the current partnership Qatar Airways is official airline for all of FIFA’s men’s, women’s and youth events, most recently covering the Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023.
Whether the extension applies through to 2026 or 2030 is another detail that still needs to be confirmed, however, since FIFA has already revealed partnerships with four other brands lasting until 2030, Simple Flying magazine proposes the airline should have received a similar extension period.
Lucrative partnership
Qatar Airways has been a partner of FIFA since May 2017, supporting several competitions, such as the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019, the FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2019 and 2020, the FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021, the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and, most recently, the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023
In July 2023, the airline announced a record profit of $1.21 billion for the year 2022-2023, partly attributing the positive result to the success of the partnership with FIFA for the World Cup Qatar 2022. Besides plane tickets, the airline offered special travel packages for fans of the tournament, including accommodation and seats for matches throughout the event.
Over the period of the FIFA World Cup, the airline operated some 14,000 flights bringing more than 1.4 million fans from all over the world to Qatar. Additionally, contributing to the annual turnover, the group renewed a multi-year partnership with French football team Paris Saint-Germain and replaced Emirates as the Global Airline Partner for Formula 1 for the next five years.
The group’s overall revenue increased to $21 billion, up 45% compared to the previous year. Passenger revenue increased by 100% over the previous year, on a capacity increase of 31% driven by 9% higher yields and a load factor of 80%, both highest in the airline’s history.
