Qatar Airways yesterday celebrated the first anniversary of its daily, non-stop service between Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and Hamad International Airport (HIA).
The airline’s anniversary comes on the heels of the 2015 Skytrax awards, where Qatar Airways was honoured with the top prize of Airline of the Year.
“Dallas/Fort Worth has been an excellent partner in our efforts to give US travellers superior leisure travel options and build stronger business relationships across north Texas,” said Gunter Saurwein, Qatar Airways vice-president, Americas. “The route has been an incredible success and we will continue to offer five-star connections between DFW and our network of over 140 destinations around the world.”
During last year’s launch, DFW Airport CEO Sean Donohue referred to the airport as “an integral economic driver for the region” and estimated that the new route would add approximately $200mn to the local economy.
“DFW congratulates oneworld partner Qatar Airways on its first anniversary of service at DFW,” said John Ackerman, executive vice-president, global strategy and development, DFW. “Over the last year, nearly 160,000 passengers travelled between Doha and DFW with more than half of these customers connecting to the 149 US cities served from DFW Airport.”
Last year’s Dallas/Fort Worth launch took place on July 1 with the arrival of the first Boeing 777-200LR, configured with 217 economy class and 42 business class seats.
The Dallas/Fort Worth anniversary comes just after Qatar Airways announced plans to launch three new US gateways in 2016. The airline will begin by launching its first West Coast route from Los Angeles on January 1, followed by Boston on March 16 and Atlanta on June 1. All new routes will feature daily flights to HIA.
