Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Qatar Airways, whose 220-aircraft order backlog is the biggest for any carrier, plans to keep adding planes and routes as a lower number of premium seats reduces its reliance on recession-hit corporate travel.

The airline’s cabin layout features fewer business-class seats than competitors such as British Airways Plc and Dubai- based Emirates, Chief Executive Officer Akbar al-Baker said in an interview in the Qatari capital Doha.

“Business-class travel is still buoyant with us because we don’t have the same exposure that other airlines have,” the CEO said. “It’s not difficult to fill this when you have a reasonable number and you give a first class service.”

Qatar Airways will stand by jetliner orders worth $40 billion even after global air travel fell 6 percent in the first eight months of the year, al-Baker said. Business flying has suffered a steeper drop than economy class, with traffic down 14.1 percent in July from a year earlier and fares 23 percent lower, according to the International Air Transport Association.

The cabin layout for the Gulf carrier’s Airbus SAS A340- 600 long-haul planes features eight first-class seats, 42 in business class and 216 in coach.

On British Airways’ smaller Boeing Co. 777-200s there are 13 seats in first, 48 in business and 159 in coach, including 32 in so-called premium economy.

‘Always Packed’

“Our strategy is different,” al-Baker said. “BA has a huge business class and they have huge capacity deployed over the Atlantic, which we do not, so, relatively, we are doing quite well. Certain destinations are always packed.”

Spokeswoman Sophie Greenyer said that London-based British Airways is still pushing business-class travel as central to its model while also looking at leisure as an important market. She wouldn’t comment further.

Dubai-based Emirates said its fleet includes a number of aircraft with different seating layouts and capacities, giving it the flexibility to adjust operations to match demand.

“Loads in all classes have been holding up despite the downturn,” Richard Vaughan, divisional senior vice president for commercial operations. “We have an excellent and very competitive premium class offering, and our first and business cabins continue to be an important part of our product mix.”

Al-Baker said Qatar Airways is unlikely to introduce its own premium economy class and instead plans to lure executives compelled by their employers to travel in standard coach.

“We don’t plan to introduce premium economy for the time being because our economy product is as good as premium economy of any other airline,” he said.

5 Stars

Qatar Airways is one of only six airlines worldwide to carry a five-star rating from London-based Skytrax Research, which polls travelers on more than 620 carriers, with its economy-class service ranked first in the world.

Demand for first-class flying is likely to be a long-term casualty of the recession, the CEO said. As a first step, Qatar Airways plans to remove the first-class lounges from its four A340s and to replace them with business seating. The lounges feature a stand-up bar, cream leather sofa and teak tables with lampshades.

The carrier has increased the number of destinations served to 82 from 56 in 2005, adding cities such as New York, Washington and Geneva, and predicts passenger numbers will jump 17 percent this year to 13.5 million, even in the recession.

The network is set to expand further as the fleet rises from 70 planes to 110 by 2013. Flights will commence to Amritsar and Goa this month and Melbourne in December. Al-Baker said he’s also considering routes to Sydney and at least two more European cities. New destinations must show a profit within two years.

“We’re ready to invest one year, two years, but we are not ready to invest, like some of our competitors, to get a return 15 years later,” said the executive, who spoke on Oct. 12.

European routes are generally more attractive because the shorter flight times involved make them less costly to operate and therefore involve less risk, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Steven Rothwell in Doha, Qatar at srothwell@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 14, 2009 11:26 EDT