BERLIN: Qatar Airways’ (QA) Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker has announced a significant network expansion of 14 new destinations at a press conference on the opening day of ITB Berlin.
The new routes will further expand the reach of the airline’s network, and will include the world’s longest flight, between Doha and Auckland, New Zealand.
“QA prides itself on being a global connector, and most importantly, providing seamless and convenient connections for our customers, so that we remain their airline of choice. These new destinations are where our customers want to go, and where we see the most opportunity to provide a best-in-class experience at great value. We look forward to growing our network and welcoming new passengers to QA,” said Al Baker.
The expansion includes five new European destinations including the Italian city of Pisa starting on August 2 with daily non-stop A320-family service from Doha, which will be the fourth Italian destination for QA, joining Venice, Rome and Milan.
Service to Sarajevo (Bosnia) will start on September 7, with three flights per week on A320-family aircraft.
Daily non-stop flights from Doha to Helsinki (Finland) will start on October 10, offering new connections between one world hubs. Three times weekly service between Doha and Skopje (Macedonia) in November.
QA will return to Nice (France) by summer 2017, with five flights per week with wide-body aircraft.
QA will begin services to six new destinations in Africa including Marrakech (Morocco) which will begin in July, three times per week.
Four flights per week between Doha and Windhoek (Namibia) will begin on September 28.
Daily scheduled service to the Seychelles will resume on December 12. In January, QA will offer three flights per week from Doha to Douala (Cameroon) and Libreville (Gabon). Non-stop service, three times weekly from Doha to Lusaka (Zambia) will begin by summer 2017.
New QA destinations in South West Pacific/Southeast Asia includes daily service to Auckland – QA’s first route to New Zealand, and what will be the world’s longest flight – will begin on December 3.
QA will begin four flights per week to Krabi (Thailand) on December 6 and three flights per week to Chiang Mai (Thailand) also in December, enhancing overall connectivity to Thailand through four gateways. QA’s latest brand campaign theme ‘Going Places Together’ is reflected in the redesign and activities, with the focus on bringing travellers closer together at ITB Berlin. The Peninsula
