Qatar Airways gears up for Middle East expansion
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Qatar Airways is gearing up for its 2012 M
iddle East route expansion this week with the addition of Iraq, followed by Baghdad, which will join the airline’s international routes over a period of two weeks.
Starting May 23rd, scheduled flights will begin to Erbil, followed on June 7th by operations to Baghdad. Both routes will be operated four-times-a-week non-stop from Qatar Airways’ Doha hub. With the launch of two routes in Iraq, Qatar Airways will take its new start-ups in 2012 to six destinations, with a further seven routes planned by the end of the year.
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said Iraq had long been under the microscope by the company’s planning team, essentially due to lack of international air services that had limited capacity for many years due to political instability. “We believe it is the right time to enter Iraq due to demand and infrastructure changes in a country that warrants more business and greater air access,” he said.
“With international corporate houses looking to do business in Iraq, frequent air access will ease travel to and from the country via our Doha hub. The two Iraq routes mark the first start-ups in the Middle East for over a year and we continue to look at further destinations within the region to widen our reach,” he added.
Over the next few months, Qatar Airways launches flights to Perth, Australia (July 3); Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (July 25); Mombasa, Kenya (August 15); and Yangon, Myanmar (October 3).
