Qatar Airways (Doha) has announced further expansion of its rapidly-growing international network with five new passenger routes, more cargo services and capacity increases to a number of destinations served direct from the airline’s Doha hub.
In Iraq, the northern city of Erbil and capital Baghdad – will be introduced to the carrier’s Middle East network in May and June respectively.
Qatar Airways will add a second Tanzanian point to its African map with the launch of flights to Kilimanjaro (Arusha). The Serbian capital Belgrade becomes the newest addition to the carrier’s European portfolio in September and the airline returns to Myanmar, serving the capital city Yangon from October after a four-year absence.
This announcement follows previously announced start-ups to a number of other international destinations during 2012, namely the Rwandan capital Kigali from March 21, Zagreb (May 9); Perth (July 3); Mombasa (August 15); with dates yet to be revealed for launches to Zanzibar (Tanzania), Helsinki (Finland), and Gassim (Saudi Arabia).
In addition, Qatar Airways announced an expansion to its dedicated freighter services with four new routes – Karachi (Pakistan), Seoul (South Korea), Johannesburg (South Africa) and Muscat (Oman), to be phased in from March 26. The carrier currently operates a fleet of six freighters to 33 destinations worldwide.
In line with the carrier’s strategy to increase frequency on existing routes to offer passengers more choice, Qatar Airways is stepping up the number of flights across its network in phases from March 25, the beginning of the Northern Summer flying schedule.
In Asia, the Kuala Lumpur route will be expanded from double daily to 17 services each week, while the daily Jakarta service will gain three additional flights taking capacity up to 10-a-week.
In Europe, a fifth daily flight will be introduced on the Doha – London Heathrow route. With the recent opening of a new First and Business Class lounge at Heathrow Terminal 4 – the carrier’s first outside Doha – the new flights are a welcome boost to one of the airline’s most popular routes.
Flights to Milan will be stepped up from 11 flights each week to double daily.
In North Africa, services to Algiers will increase from seven to 11 services each week, while the Egyptian capital Cairo will have an additional three flights taking frequency up to 12 a week.
Three destinations in the Gulf will be boosted with additional capacity. The Kuwait City route will have 13 additional flights taking frequency up from 42 to 55 flights a week, while frequency to the Omani capital of Muscat will be stepped up from 24 to 31 services each week.
Abu Dhabi, capital city of the United Arab Emirates, will see an additional daily flight, seeing capacity rise from 35 to 42 flights every week (six daily).
As part of its 2012 expansion programme, Qatar Airways recently launched flights to the European capital cities of Tbilisi in Georgia and Baku in Azerbaijan, its first new routes of 2012. Later this month, starting March 21, Qatar Airways will launch daily scheduled services from Doha to the Rwandan capital Kigali, via Entebbe.
Copyright Photo: Christian Volpati.
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