Qatar
Qatar Airways unveils massive expansion plans
Qatar Airways unveils massive expansion plans
| Qatar Airways vice-president (Europe) Paul Johannes, chief executive officer Akbar al-Baker and country manager (Germany) Greg Epps announce further route expansion at the press conference in Berlin yesterday |
Qatar Airways CEO Akbar al-Baker unveiled the latest expansion details at the opening day of the international travel show ITB Berlin. He said daily flights to the Indian city of Kolkata will be launched on July 27, taking Qatar Airways’ capacity in India to 95 services a week spread across 12 cities.
In Europe, where much of Qatar Airways’ recent expansion has been the focus, the airline is to launch four-flights-a-week to the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, from September 14. Beginning October 5, the airline will build on its successful operations in Scandinavia with the start of five-flights-a-week to Norway’s capital city of Oslo.
The airline already operates scheduled services to the Swedish capital Stockholm and Denmark’s capital city of Copenhagen.
Together with a raft of capacity increases that see the Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Manchester and Dar-es-Salaam routes go double daily, Geneva, Seychelles and Copenhagen will be upgraded to daily operations, al-Baker said.
Earlier this week the airline embarked on the latest phase of its 2011 expansion drive, launching three-flights-a-week to Stuttgart; its fourth German gateway and 99th international destination.
With frequency on the Munich route increasing from daily to 11 flights a week, effective yesterday and the Frankfurt route upgraded from 10 to 13 flights each week, beginning March 27, Qatar Airways faces its biggest-ever capacity rise in Germany in a short timeframe; from 24 to 34 flights a week, the official said.
The Doha–Berlin route remains a daily operation.
"Yet again, we are demonstrating our strategic focus to serve key business and leisure cities around the world, as well as underserved markets with new direct flights and increased capacity,” Al-Baker said.
"As we take delivery of more aircraft, we will quickly induct them into service and constantly look at new opportunities to give the travelling public more travel options, more choice and more flexibility,” he added.
Since January 2010, Qatar Airways has taken delivery of 22 new planes.
By 2013, Qatar Airways plans to serve more than 120 key business and leisure destinations worldwide with a modern fleet of over 120 aircraft. Currently, the airline’s fleet stands at 94 aircraft.
Highlights for the year are:
New Routes:
• Stuttgart, March 6: Three-flights-a-week take the airline’s German network to four routes
• Aleppo, April 6: Four-flights-a-week, airline’s 100th destination
• Shiraz, June 5: Twice-weekly flights – carrier’s third destination in Iran
• Venice, June 15: Daily flights take Italian network up to three cities
• Montreal, June 29: Airline’s debut in Canada with introduction of thrice-weekly flights
• Kolkata, July 27: Daily flights take airline’s Indian network up to 12 destinations
• Sofia, September 14: Four-flights-a-week strengthen Eastern European presence
• Oslo, October 5: Five-flights-a-week – airline’s third Scandinavian route
Increased capacity:
• Bengaluru, March 1: Replacing narrow-body aircraft with wide-body Airbus A330
• Munich, March 9: Seven to 11 flights a week
• Frankfurt, March 27: 10 to 13 flights a week; introducing Boeing 777 on some flights
• Barcelona, March 27: Replacing narrow-body aircraft with wide-body Airbus A330
• Kuala Lumpur, March 27:11 to 14 flights a week (double daily), phased from March to Oct
• Dar-es Salaam, March 27:12 to 14 flights a week (double daily)
• Muscat, March 27: 21 to 24 flights a week
• Karachi, March 27: Replacing narrow-body aircraft with wide-body Airbus A330
• Paris, March 29: 14 to 16 flights a week (16th flight introduced in October)
• Copenhagen, March 31: Six to seven flights a week (daily)
• Singapore, May 1: Seven to 14 flights a week (double daily), phased in from May to Nov
• Geneva, May 3: Five to seven flights a week (daily)
• Manchester, June 1: Seven to 14 flights a week (double daily)
• Seychelles, June 2: Four to seven flights a week (daily)