QATAR Airways, which has so far launched five destinations in 2013 – Gassim in Saudi Arabia, Najaf in Iraq, Phnom Penh in Cambodia, Salalah in Oman and Chicago in the US – is continuing its route expansion with the launch of more key destinations in the region and internationally.
The airline is also increasing its flights to Pakistan by 60 per cent and has started reintroducing its Dreamliner services after a worldwide grounding of the aircraft earlier this year.
Qatar Airways intends to launch flights to Chengdu in China on September 3 while the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa will become the carrier’s 20th destination on the African continent, launching on September 18, followed a month later by Clark International Airport in the Philippines from October 28.
Upcoming regional route, meanwhile, will include Sulaymaniyah and Basra in Iraq, on June 3 and August 20 respectively.
Qatar Airways chief executive officer Akbar Al Baker commented: “We have been looking to fly to Addis Ababa for some time, and extremely delighted we will be able to do so later year as new aircraft join the fleet. And Clark International Airport provides us with great opportunities to boost our presence in the Greater Manila area and northern region of Luzon Island.”
In addition, Qatar Airways is significantly increasing capacity to Pakistan where it currently operates 17 flights a week across four cities of Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar. Beginning this month, Qatar Airways will step up frequency to Pakistan by 60 per cent to 28 flights each week – Karachi up from daily to double daily; Lahore from four to seven flights a week; and Peshawar securing an additional flight to three services each week.
Meanwhile, from March 1 next year, Philadelphia will become the airline’s fifth US gateway. Qatar Airways will be the first foreign flag carrier to launch flights at Philadelphia International Airport in more than a decade and will be the sixth destination served by the carrier in North America after Chicago, Houston, New York and Washington in the US and Montreal in Canada.
“Philadelphia is one of the major hubs of the soon-to-be-merged American Airlines/US Airways and will provide Qatar Airways’ customers with onward connections to over 100 cities across the US. With the implementation of code-share agreements with American Airlines and JetBlue which offer numerous connections beyond our US gateways, Qatar Airways is making big strides to strengthen its presence in the US to ultimately give our passengers greater travel options,” Al Baker said. “Joining the Oneworld Global Alliance later this year will also present tremendous travel options and benefits to our passengers and to those of partner carriers in the alliance.”
To accommodate such expansion plans, there are currently over 250 aircraft on order books worth more than $50 billion.