Qatar Airways confirms expansion plans at ATM
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Qatar Airways has announced a further expansion of its international route network with Uganda, Azerbaijan and Georgia joining the list of countries served direct from the airline’s Doha hub.Daily non-stop scheduled flights to Uganda’s second largest city of Entebbe are due to begin on 2 November, marking the carrier’s first new route to the African continent since early 2007. Four weeks later, the airline will introduce daily non-stop flights to Baku which continue onto Tbilisi, the capital cities of Azerbaijan and Georgia respectively.Today’s announcement comes as the Doha-based carrier prepares for a busy few months ahead with the launch of scheduled flights to Shiraz, Venice and Montreal in June; Kolkata (Calcutta) in July; Sofia in September and Oslo in October.Qatar Airways will be the only full-service Gulf carrier flying to the oil-rich city of Baku. Located on the Caspian Sea, the walled city of Baku has been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.The three newest routes will be operated with Airbus A320 aircraft in a two-class configuration of 12 seats in Business Class and 132 in Economy. The airline also revealed at ATM plans to boost flights to Saudi Arabia by 71%. It will launch a four flights weekly service to Medina on 14 July and launch double-daily flights to the Kingdom’s two largest cities, Riyadh and Jeddah, from 1 June.The Doha – Medina route will be operated non-stop with an Airbus A320 in a two-class configuration of 12 seats in First Class and 132 in Economy.Also from 1 June 1, the eastern city of Dammam will see capacity increase from the current 21 flights a week to 28. Qatar Airways is operating a mix of narrow-body Airbus A320s and wide-body Airbus A330s and its flagship Boeing 777 aircraft on flights to and from Saudi Arabia.Speaking at ATM, Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said: “The extra flights to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are a welcome boost to our schedules, for our passengers and also towards our commitment to the market.”Saudi Arabia is the largest of the GCC countries and a natural market for Qatar Airways to step up its presence.”
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