Qatar Airways to France: Introduction

Like you’d all know, I was headed to Toulouse earlier this year to bring home the first Qatar Airways A350-1000 home. It was not my first trip to the Airbus Delivery Centre in Toulouse since I had been over to Toulouse earlier to meet the first Air Vistara A320neo. At that point of time, there was no option to join the delivery flight, so I flew commercial both ends. This time, however, I decided to fly Qatar Airways to be able to get a sampler of their various products even before I could set my foot on the new Airbus A350-1000 they were going to take delivery of.

I did not have too much time on my agenda, as I had already planned other things, such as having my folks visit me in Mumbai, so I was doing this trip on the shortest schedule possible, to minimise the time on the ground. Otherwise, you’d have seen more of Qatar, Paris and Toulouse in this trip report. But you’ll see a lot of planes for sure. This is how the trip was eventually booked up:

Mumbai to Doha: Qatar Airways Boeing 77W fitted with the QSuites
Doha to Paris CDG: Qatar Airways Airbus A380 equipped with the reverse herringbone Business Class
Paris CDG to Toulouse: Air France A321 Economy Class
Toulouse to Doha: Qatar Airways Airbus A350-1000 Delivery Flight fitted with the QSuites
Doha to Mumbai: Qatar Airways Boeing 77W equipped with the QSuites

Once I arrived in Toulouse, Airbus took over, picking me up from the Airport and taking me to the host hotel for the event. Everyone was split up amongst a Radisson and a Holiday Inn hotel, and for whatever reason, I was at the Radisson. I spent two nights at the Radisson.

This is how the trip looked eventually.

On the whole, that was a lot of flying for leaving home on a Monday early morning and getting back on Thursday early morning in Mumbai, roughly 72 hours away from home, but every bit enjoyable since there were so many new products and experiences to try out.

Stay tuned as we post this trip report for you.