Qatar Airways, the only national carrier in the country, provides scheduled air transportation services for passengers and cargo. The airline was founded by members of the Al Thani ruling family and the government of Qatar.

Qatar Airways owns 62 airplanes and reaches 82 worldwide destinations, with 69 offices worldwide as of December 2007. It increased its annual passenger traffic by 25% to 8.88 million in 2007.

The airline has positioned itself as a high-end carrier; it is the only Middle Eastern airline to achieve a five-star ranking from Skytrax, an aviation industry monitor.

Qatar Airways is a vertically integrated airline, owning Qatar Duty FreeQatar Duty Free, Qatar Aviation ServicesQatar Aviation Services and the Qatar Aircraft Catering Company. In other industries, the airline owns United Media International, which is in charge of media advertisement at Doha International AirportDoha International Airport and the Qatar Distribution Company, the only legal alcohol distributor in the country. Qatar Airways also manages the Doha International AirportDoha International Airport.

The government of Qatar pulled out of a consortium of four Gulf countries in 2002, which had established the Bahrain-based Gulf AirGulf Air half a century before, and focused on expanding its own carrier.

Qatar Airways plans to grow its network and fleet size. It had outstanding orders for 200 aircrafts by the end of 2007 and plans to nearly double its planes to 110 by 2013.