Qatar Airways is official airline for NZ’s first LPGA event

Qatar Airways, a supporter of premier sporting events around the globe, has signed on to become the Official Airline for three editions of the McKayson New Zealand Women’s Open. The event features a USD $1.3 million prize purse and will mark the first ever LPGA Tour event to take place in New Zealand.As part of this sponsorship, Qatar Airways will have extensive marketing and branding rights at the McKayson New Zealand Women’s Open, with millions of overseas spectators expected to tune in from September 28 to October 1, 2017, when the tournament takes place at the spectacular Windross Farm golf course in Ardmore, south of the Auckland central business district.“Qatar Airways is proud to lend our support to the historic McKayson New Zealand Women’s Open. As a major global sporting partner, we see sports as a means of bringing people together, something at the core of our own brand message – Going Places Together,” Qatar Airways Group chief executive Akbar al-Baker said.“It has been eight months since Qatar Airways began operating the world’s longest flight from Auckland, and we have been welcomed with open arms by Kiwi travellers. The McKayson New Zealand Women’s Open is our opportunity to support the city of Auckland as the world’s golfing finest come to play.”Tournament director Michael Goldstein added: “It was serendipitous timing that Qatar Airways, a passionate sponsor of global sporting events, launched in New Zealand in the year of the first-ever LPGA Tour event in New Zealand. We are thrilled to partner with Qatar Airways as our Official Airline of the McKayson New Zealand Women’s Open, and hope that many of their passengers experience seeing the world’s best in our backyard.”Yesterday’s announcement builds on Qatar Airways’ sponsorship strategy of supporting a range of exciting international and local initiatives dedicated to enriching the global community that it serves. Besides the McKayson New Zealand Women’s Open, Qatar Airways is a proud partner of the Sydney Swans in Australia and the Formula E electric car races in Paris and New York, among others. Qatar Airways is also the official FIFA partner of many top-level sporting events, including the FIFA 2018 and 2022 World Cups to be held in Russia and Qatar respectively.Qatar Airways is one of the fastest-growing airlines operating one of the youngest fleets in the world, with 200 aircraft flying to more than 150 key business and leisure destinations across six continents.The airline has launched many exciting new destinations in 2017, including Nice, France; Dublin, Republic of Ireland and Kyiv, Ukraine, among others. Cities including Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina; Chiang Mai, Thailand and Canberra, Australia, are just some of the destinations that will soon join the airline’s extensive global network, providing even more leisure and business travel options for passengers.