Doha                                                                                                                                                                                                     14 August 2017                                                                                                                                                                                    (HIA)

Hamad International Airport (HIA), Doha announced today that it has enhanced its current sponsorship of the legendary German football club FC Bayern München as Platinum sponsor. It is also announced today that the latest FC Bayern jersey will be featuring HIA-Qatar’s distinctive logo on the sleeve of the team’s iconic shirts from onward this Friday, i.e. 18th of August 2017.

The announcement was made at a press conference at the airport terminal beside the iconic Lamp Bear, chaired by Qatar Airways Group CEO, Akbar Al Baker, FC Bayern München Executive Board Member, Andreas Jung, Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy Secretary General, Hassan Al Thawadi and Hamad International Airport Chief Operating Officer, Engr. Badr Mohammed Al Meer.

Albaker in his address today said “The strengthening of this fantastic sponsorship between Qatar’s award-winning airport and FC Bayern München, truly demonstrates the State of Qatar’s role as a global leader in sports. The HIA-Qatar logo on the sleeve of every FC Bayern München jersey helps display the importance that we as a nation place on sports as a means of bringing people together. The HIA-Qatar enhancement of its sponsorship has also further aligned itself with our nation’s ambitious national vision.”

FC Bayern München Executive Board Member, Andreas Jung, said: “Starting this season, our players will feature the HIA-logo on the jersey’s sleeves. When we signed the contract with Hamad International Airport in January 2016, the sponsors badge on the sleeve was already part of our agreement. So far the HIA-logo has already been placed on the training uniforms.”

Hamad International Airport Chief Operating Officer, Engr. Badr Mohammed Al Meer, said: “HIA-Qatar’s growing and successful partnership with FC Bayern München opens up new and exciting avenues for this collaboration. We are rightly delighted to have our five-star airport’s logo on Germany’s most-winning team’s jersey.

“FC Bayern München are Germany’s sporting superstars, so it’s only right that they should be in partnership with the Middle East’s five-star airport, as we are both at the top of our game and both look forward to staying in the premiere league.”

HIA-Qatar and FC Bayern München also launched their latest promotional video, which showcases HIA’s award-winning facilities and services as experienced first-hand by the football stars. The video features global football champions Arjen Robben and Robert Lewandowski to name but a few, and will be played both in the airport and on board Qatar Airway’s flights.

Andreas Jung and Akbar AlBaker signed the agreement on behalf of their respective  organizations.

Later, Al Baker led the ribbon cutting to officially open FC Bayern München’s new pop-up shop in the airport’s duty free area, featuring branded gifts and merchandise from the popular German football team, available for passengers travelling through HIA to buy. ‘The shop is first in Asia’, AndreesJung of FC Bayern Munchen

Earlier in January this year, Qatar had the privilege of hosting FC Bayern München in Doha as the team undertook a successful nine-day winter training camp at Qatar’s Aspire Academy, enjoying the world-beating facilities available to them.

HIA-Qatar’s state-of-the-art airport also recently announced an eight per cent increase in passenger numbers and an impressive 19 per cent increase in cargo handling from January to June 2017, compared to the same period in the previous year.

This is just the latest in a series of significant milestones achieved in 2017, including being ranked as a five-star airport by Skytrax, making it one among only five other airports in the world to achieve this prestigious status.

Earlier this year, it was ranked Sixth Best Airport in the World by the 2017 Skytrax World Airport Awards, moving up four places from 2016. HIA has also won the ‘Best Airport in the Middle East’ title for three years in a row and ‘Best Staff Service in the Middle East’ for two years in a row.