Scottish bagpipes welcome Qatar Airways to Edinburgh

Qatar Airways’ inaugural flight to Edinburgh was met with a traditional water cannon salute and Scottish bagpipes yesterday.Qatar Airways yesterday commenced services between Scotland’s capital city Edinburgh and Doha. The inaugural flight, which landed at Edinburgh International Airport at 1.15pm, was welcomed with a traditional water cannon salute, the classic sound of Scottish bagpipes and a gathering audience within the airport terminal.This new Scottish addition to the Qatar Airways route map is the airline’s 141st global destination and will significantly reduce journey times for those travelling from Edinburgh to locations around the world. With smooth and frequent connection times in Doha’s brand new Hamad International Airport (HIA), passengers flying from Edinburgh will now be able to arrive at their final destination, whether it be Doha in the Middle East or further afield, without the need for any domestic transfers within the UK.Qatar Airways chief commercial officer Marwan Koleilat said: “We are delighted that our Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft has today commenced services to Edinburgh. We are sure that this will not only benefit the local market in Scotland, but also attract a significant amount of business and trade links for those wishing to travel to Edinburgh from all corners of the world.”“The start of the service not only offers travellers from the Scottish capital access to the Middle East in under seven hours, but also a quicker total journey time to other popular destinations in Asia, India and Australasia, through our brand new airline hub at the Hamad International Airport.”The most popular destinations for those using the new route are likely to be in Asia and Australasia, with journey times to Melbourne reduced from approximately 26 hours with two transfers, to just 20 hours with one quick international transfer. HIA, to which Qatar Airways moved all of its operations on Tuesday, is the world’s newest airport with state-of-the-art facilities and passenger focused design. Designed to accommodate 30mn passengers annually, rising to 50mn upon full completion, the airport covers an area of 29sq km and is 60% built on land reclaimed from the Gulf.The new Edinburgh route is not only the first for the city to the Middle East region, but will also be Edinburgh’s first scheduled service on one of the world’s newest aircraft, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, with a two-cabin configuration, comprising of 22 seats in business class and 232 economy seats.Scottish Minister for External Affairs and International Development Humza Yousaf said: “Scotland and Qatar are both strong oil and gas producing countries and the relationship between our two countries has continued to strengthen over recent years. “This service will help build on this important link and promote Scotland as a great place to do business. By removing the need for extra connecting flights, it will also make Scotland a more attractive destination for tourists.”Gordon Dewar, chief executive of Edinburgh Airport, said: “This is a historic day, not just for our airport, but for the city of Edinburgh. The inaugural flight to Doha marks the first direct link from Edinburgh to the Middle East and means Scotland’s capital is finally connected with Asia, China and Australia.”VisitScotland chairman Mike Cantlay said: “Bringing a mix of leisure and business travellers from right across the globe, this new route, between Doha and Edinburgh, is an unbelievable opportunity to open up Scotland even further to our key long haul and emerging markets.“Our analysis shows that this incredibly exciting new route will bring around £33m in projected revenue in the first year and £86m after three years. We anticipate that visitors from Qatar itself will be amongst our highest spending visitors.”Prior to the launch of services, Qatar Airways CEO Akbar al-Baker conducted a number of high-level meetings with the Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond and the Lord Provost during a visit to Edinburgh. Scotland and Qatar have strong business ties already and this new route is likely to develop such business and trade relationships even further. Edinburgh will be Qatar Airways third destination in the UK, after London (1997) and Manchester (2003).