Frequently Asked Questions

You have the option to join the ISP, and we believe that it would be a valuable addition to your benefits package. However, if you choose not to join, you can elect not to complete the joining form, and you will not be enrolled in the ISP.

If you are eligible, you will be invited to participate in the ISP. To join, you will need to complete a 'Joiners form' and send it to ispadmin@qatarairways.com.qa. The ISP team will be able to provide you with this form

Yes. Should you wish to do so you will need to complete the ' Joining Form' and send it to ispadmin@qatarairways.com.qa by the first week of the selected joining month.

Start using the new and enhanced Fund Center of the ISP for information on funds: Fund Centre

The Fund Center provides comprehensive information on available funds, allowing you to explore their investment strategies and performance.

Here’s how you can utilize the Fund Center:

• Explore Funds: Choose any funds from the list and add them to your shortlist.
• Analysis Tools: Use the Portfolio Scan or Comparison Report to analyze and compare the performance and key information of the selected funds.
• Digital Factsheets: Click on a fund’s name to explore its digital factsheet.
• Additional Resources: Check out the Information & Documents area for more resources.

Please note that the information provided by the Fund Center is just a starting point. For personalized advice and to ensure these funds align with your financial goals, it is recommended to consult your financial advisor.

The minimum amount an employee receives upon leaving will be equal to the End of Service Benefit (EoSB), and this calculation excludes any voluntary contributions.

We understand that making investment decisions can feel overwhelming, especially if you are new to it. To support you in managing your ISP investments, we provide a suite of user-friendly digital tools and resources through our online portal and mobile app. These platforms give you access to the new Fund Centre, where you can view detailed information about all available investment options for your personal contributions, including performance history, risk ratings, and fund objectives.

Additionally, you can use the Risk Profiler tool to understand your comfort level with investment risk, and learn more about the fundamentals of investing on our Smart Investor portal.

For company contributions by Qatar Airways, members can choose between a low-risk conventional or Shariah-compliant fund.

To help guide your decision-making, we offer interactive tools such as a retirement planner and rate of return calculator. Additionally, the ZIO app includes access to Nudge and Zogo, which provide tailored financial education to build your knowledge over time. Our Smart Investor portal also hosts written guides and short explainer videos on key investment concepts, perfect for building a solid foundation in investing and making more confident choices.

While we are unable to provide personalized financial advice or recommend specific funds, we encourage you to take advantage of these tools and resources to make informed decisions based on your goals and circumstances. If you need tailored advice beyond what’s available through our platform, you may wish to consult a licensed independent financial advisor.

You can contribute up to 15% of basic salary in total, inclusive of the compulsory 5%. Increases are made through the ISP payroll process — contact the ISP team to request a variation, effective from the next available payroll.

The top tier, immediately: contribution tiers follow your total Qatar Airways service, not your time in the plan, so joining with more than ten years' service means the company contributes 15% of basic from your first month.

After payroll, Qatar Airways sends one consolidated payment to Zurich for all members. On receipt it is invested immediately; under the funds' dealing (T+) rules, unit allocation can then take up to five trading days to appear in ZIO. Blackout periods in the first half of 2026 may have extended some allocations beyond that norm — an exceptional situation rather than the standing process. Throughout, your contribution is held securely within the trust.

Contributions are collected monthly through payroll only. The earlier lump-sum window was a one-off agreed between Qatar Airways and the Trustee; any reopening would be announced to all members, and the demand expressed has been passed on. Contributions for years before joining are not provided for — the route available today is raising your regular rate to the 15% maximum.

No — there is no in-service withdrawal facility. All contributions, compulsory and voluntary, remain invested until you leave; that lock-in is deliberate, protecting the outcome. You can reduce a voluntary rate from a future payroll, and contributing at least 5% is what keeps the company's contributions flowing.

Automatically — the plan's funds are accumulating share classes, so dividends and sukuk profit are reinvested inside each fund and reach you as growth in the daily unit price. Nothing is withheld; the income compounds in your account.

Each fund's stated objective, its FE risk rating, and its factsheet in the ZIO Fund Centre, which shows the underlying index's or manager's longer history. 

The Blends are not a low-return corner: each is a WTW-designed, diversified growth strategy. The restriction exists because the plan's guarantee stands behind employer money, which requires it to sit in the governed default. Member feedback on widening the choice has been logged and will be shared with Qatar Airways and the Trustee, though no change is promised.

Above the Bloomberg mid-market rate — the neutral interbank midpoint — not above a bank's retail rate. The 0.175% is the entire adjustment, with no commission on top, and applies only where money genuinely changes currency; typical retail bank spreads run several times wider.

Shariah funds screen out certain sectors and interest-based instruments, hold sukuk rather than conventional bonds, and are independently overseen for compliance — and they are open to everyone. Performance differs by period rather than being systematically better or worse, charges are comparable across the two ranges, and the projections shown in presentations apply to both routes equally.

Once you retire, or if your leave Qatar Airways you have the following option:

• You can take the full value of your ISP Account as a cash lump sum (subject to vesting rules on contributions made by Qatar Airways).
• You may be able to transfer the full value of your ISP Account to another savings plan. This would be subject to the new plan accepting the transfer, trustee consent and local laws also permitting this option. This trustee may apply a charge for considering this option.
• You may have the option to use your ISP Account balance to purchase an annuity from your preferred provider. An annuity offers regular payments, determined by the purchase amount, interest rate, annuity type, and your age and gender, upon your retirement.
• Stay invested and manage your savings and investments with Zurich. You can choose full, partial, or regular withdrawals. By keeping your account, your vested policy value or final entitlement transfers seamlessly to your employee policy. A USD 10 monthly member fee will continue to apply.

Entitlement to employer contributions

You will be entitled to the relevant portion of your employer’s contributions to the ISP once you have completed the periods of service shown in the table below. This is known as your vesting period.

As you complete longer periods of service your entitlement to the percentage value of your employer contribution account will increase until you have the right to 100% of its value, although you will not be permitted to remove any value from the ISP until such time as you have left employment or meet the criteria set out in the ISP rules. The following vesting rules will apply:

No, not during your employment with Qatar Airways. You can transfer the value of the ISP into other plans only after leaving employment with Qatar Airways.

No exit fees, at any point. A payout carries only its transaction costs: the telegraphic-transfer fee and, where the payment changes currency, conversion at the Bloomberg mid-rate adjusted by 0.175%. “Pot less charges” in illustrations simply means values shown after the fund charges already reflected in daily unit prices.

From your Qatar Airways service. With five or more years' total service at leaving you are 100% vested in the employer account, even if the ISP itself started later; between one and five years' service, the entitlement is 75% of the employer account or the gratuity value if greater. Your own contributions are always 100% yours from day one.

A large pay rise late in a short period of service can lift the gratuity formula above the funded account for a time, because the formula revalues every past year instantly while contributions build gradually. Over longer careers the ISP's higher funding rate — 12%–15% of basic against roughly 5.75% accrued by the formula — plus the immediate step-up on your new salary absorbs even a substantial promotion. And the plan already contains something stronger than a top-up: whenever the formula is ahead on the day you leave, that is what you are paid. The guarantee delivers the higher of the two, promotion included.

Choosing deferred membership transfers your company policy into an employee policy that is 100% owned by you — full vested value, access to the full fund range, same platform, with the USD 10 monthly fee continuing. On tax, the general position: growth inside the policy accrues gross while invested; withdrawals are typically taxed by your country of residence when each is taken; and a lump sum's treatment depends on where, and when, you are resident at payment. Which route suits you is personal — take independent financial and tax advice in your destination country before deciding.

Yes — payments after leaving go to the account you nominate at the point of claim, which can be an international account in your name. Transfer fees and, where the payment changes currency, conversion at the Bloomberg mid-rate apply.

The plan is held in trust in the Isle of Man, so on death the Trustee — guided by your beneficiary nomination in ZIO — can pay without waiting for Qatari estate processes; the Trustee may also pay in accordance with Shariah law where appropriate. A will registered in Qatar governs your other Qatari assets; it neither replaces the nomination nor, by its absence, delays the Trustee. Keep the two consistent, and take independent legal advice on the will itself.

The ISP is structured as a Trust under the applicable laws of Isle of Man. The Isle of Man has established its own Insurance and Retirement Benefits Acts to ensure that authorised companies have sound and professional management, and that the interests of sponsors and their members are protected. Zurich is authorised under the Insurance Act 2008 to conduct long-term insurance business from the Isle of Man and is supervised by the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority (IOMFSA). The Insurance Act requires senior management and controlling parties of insurance businesses to be fit and proper, and that the companies are financially sound.

The legislation is clear and comprehensive, and the reporting requirements it contains satisfy the IOMFSA's strict supervisory needs. All of these measures help to ensure the security of the ISP.

When Zurich has set up your ISP Account and your first contribution has been received, you will automatically receive a self-registration email. This email will include your username and details on how to log in to your ISP Account.

Zurich is incorporated in the Isle of Man and does not pay tax in the Isle of Man on capital gains and income attributable to plan holder investments. This means that your investment can grow from year to year virtually tax-free, taking advantage of an effect known as 'gross roll-up'. However, please note that there may be an element of withholding tax deducted from some income and dividends within certain funds that cannot be reclaimed.

All Trust Fees will be paid by Qatar Airways both during and after your employment. You will never be responsible for these fees.

Yes — under the Common Reporting Standard, the Isle of Man institutions report account information annually for members tax-resident in participating countries, exchanged automatically with your home tax authority. This is a legal obligation on the institutions, independent of any election by you or the plan.

The ISP already includes a death benefit of 101% of your account value. Standalone life cover sits outside the plan.