Qatar Airways increases Stockholm capacity

23 November 2009: Doha, QATAR - Qatar Airways today announced asignificant increase in capacity to Sweden with the Doha - Stockholmroute being expanded to a daily service and a wide body Airbus A330being deployed from next year. Beginning March 28, at the start of theSummer 2010 flying schedules, frequency will rise from five toseven-flights-a-week. The larger Airbus A330s will offer passengers inevery seat across the Business and Economy cabins with a fullyinteractive personal audio and video entertainment system.

Theexpansion widens Qatar Airways’ reach in Scandinavia, with more flightsand bigger aircraft offering passengers in the region greaterconnection opportunities to Stockholm - and more choice to theairline’s Doha hub with convenient onward connections to key businessand leisure cities across the Middle East, South Asia, Africa, Far Eastand Australia.
Convenient flight timings will also offer goodconnections to Melbourne, the airline’s newest route which is due to belaunched on December 6.Qatar Airways has been operating a 110-seatAirbus A319 on the Stockholm route since the Swedish service waslaunched in November 2007. Last month, Qatar Airways stepped upcapacity to Stockholm from four to five flights a week.Qatar AirwaysChief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said that the additional twofrequencies making it a daily service next year and larger aircraftdemonstrated the airline’s commitment to the Scandinavianmarket.”Stockholm has been one of our best-performing routes since welaunched the service less than two years ago,” he said.

“Withflights going full, we have at last been able to announce that verysoon larger aircraft will be deployed with more frequency to providegreater choice and an increasingly competitive product.”I am delightedthat we will be offering the travelling public what they fully deserve.More choice of flights and great inflight entertainment not only fortravellers to and from Sweden, but also across Scandinavia with greatconnections to and from the rest of the region.”Connecting citiesinclude Gothenburg in Sweden; Oslo in Norway; the Danish capitalCopenhagen; and Helsinki, capital of Finland. Added Al Baker: “With theextra capacity being deployed, we are able to spread our award-winningFive Star message to more people in this underserved part of the world.

“Iam sure our passengers flying to and from Stockholm will have a wholenew inflight experience with a fully interactive entertainment systemoffering plenty of audio and video options and great comfortlevels.”The twin-aisle A330s will offer more than twice the currentA319 seating capacity - up to 260 seats with 24 in Business and 236 inEconomy - marking a huge capacity hike in time for the busy summerseason.All passengers have access to seatback TV screens giving themthe opportunity to watch programmes at the time of their choice. Thefully interactive system allows passengers to forward, rewind, stop andpause their programmes giving them greater flexibility over theirviewing options.

Regardless of class of travel, passengers canenjoy the next generation interactive onboard entertainment system witha choice of more than 900 audio and video on demand options. Frommusic, documentaries, movies, sport, comedy, children’s programmes andinteractive games, passengers are rest assured of a great choice ofentertainment through the airline’s Oryx Entertainment system.
 
QatarAirways was recently named Best Business Airline at the prestigiousWorld Travel Awards in London, at which it walked away with the titlefor the second consecutive year.
With a pitch of 60 inches, the2-2-2 configured Business Class convert into flat beds offering premiumpassengers to and from Stockholm with a long-haul experience of awidebody aircraft for the first time on the route.Qatar Airways’Economy Class, recently voted Best in the World by the independentindustry audit Skytrax, offers ergonomically designed seats and agenerous seat pitch of up to 34 inches.
 
Qatar Airwayscurrently operates a modern fleet of 72 aircraft to 84 destinationsacross Europe, Middle East, Africa, Far East, South Asia and NorthAmerica.The airline’s fleet will increase to more than 120 aircraft by2013 and destinations served are set to rise to over 120 in the nextfive years.