Qatar Airways and SNCF enter Air Rail Agreement

Qatar Airways and French rail network SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français), have begun a TGV AIR codeshare agreement covering 15 cities across France.

Under the agreement, Qatar Airways’ QR flight code is applied on selected SNCF rail services ensuring travellers have a seamless journey between Doha and the French regions.

The 15 railway stations involved in the deal are : Lille-Europe, Lyon-Part Dieu, St Pierre des Corps, Rennes, Nantes, Angers-St Laud, Le Mans, Poitiers, Bordeaux St Jean, Avignon TGV, Valence TGV, Marseille St Charles, Montpellier, Nîmes and Aix en Provence TGV.

“This agreement provides Qatar Airways with an extended presence across France to better serve the travelling public”, said Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer, Akbar Al Baker.

Added Eric Didier, Qatar Airways Area Manager France: “Our Paris flights have proved extremely popular which is why we recently increased frequency to a daily service. With this bi-modal agreement with SNCF, we will now be able to meet increasing demand from our customers in the regions.”

Mireille Faugère, Voyages France Europe Director at SNCF, said: “This new agreement reinforces the development of TGV AIR connections and the promotion of TGV at an international level. By the end of 2004, almost 100,000 passengers will have used the TGV AIR product via SNCF partner airlines.”

Qatar Airways currently flies an Airbus A330-200 between Paris and Doha in a three-class configuration of First, Business and Economy, featuring a state-of-the-art interactive inflight entertainment system.

SNCF carries almost 90 million passengers every year to 140 destinations across France. The Charles de Gaulle airport TGV railway station is a key SNCF hub with over 50 TGV services daily. Since the opening of the high-speed rail network 22 years ago, a billion passengers have travelled across France and Europe with TGV, Eurostar and Thalys.

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