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October 27, 2014
DOHA - DJIBOUTI NOW ON QATAR AIRWAYS GIVES NEW
OPPORTUNITIES FOR DJIBOUTI TOURISM
Qatar Airways has continued its expansion in Africa
with the launch of services to its latest
destination, Djibouti, which began this week.
The five-star airline commenced the
three-times-weekly flights from Doha’s Hamad
International Airport to Djibouti–Ambouli
International Airport, marking the airline’s 145th
global destination.
From left, Djibouti’s Ambassador to Qatar, His
Excellency Moamin Hassan Berri; Qatar Airways Vice
President Africa, Jared Lee; Qatar’s Ambassador to
Djibouti, His Excellency Jassim Jaber Jassim Sorour;
Djibouti’s Minister of Transport and Equipment, His
Excellency Moussa Ahmad Hassan and RAF Foundation’s
Marketing and Media Director, Mr. Ibrahim Ali
Abdullah during the plaque reveal ceremony for the
new Al Amal School in Djibouti.
From left, Djibouti’s Ambassador to Qatar, His
Excellency Moamin Hassan Berri; Qatar Airways Vice
President Africa, Jared Lee; Qatar’s Ambassador to
Djibouti, His Excellency Jassim Jaber Jassim Sorour;
Djibouti’s Minister of Transport and Equipment, His
Excellency Moussa Ahmad Hassan and RAF Foundation’s
Marketing and Media Director, Mr. Ibrahim Ali
Abdullah during the plaque reveal ceremony for the
new Al Amal School in Djibouti.
Djibouti’s Minister of Transport and Equipment, His
Excellency Moussa Ahmad Hassan, second from left,
presents Qatar Airways Vice President Africa Jared
Lee with a gift during a corporate lunch
commemorating the launch of the airline’s direct
flights to Djibouti in Africa.
Djibouti’s Minister of Transport and Equipment, His
Excellency Moussa Ahmad Hassan, second from left,
presents Qatar Airways Vice President Africa Jared
Lee with a gift during a corporate lunch
commemorating the launch of the airline’s direct
flights to Djibouti in Africa.
Addressing Ministers, Ambassadors, Government
officials and travel trade partners during the
inaugural event in Djibouti, Qatar Airways Vice
President Africa Jared Lee, said: “Qatar Airways is
proud to be the first five-star airline connecting
Djibouti to popular business and leisure
destinations across the Middle East, Europe, Asia,
Australia and the Americas.
“Djibouti presents a great opportunity as the
country has huge appeal for many with its wealth of
natural resources and tourist attractions.
“Qatar Airways is delighted to give business
travellers and tourists who wish to visit Djibouti,
and also the people of Djibouti, an additional route
to and from this destination.”
Tourist attractions in Djibouti include scuba
diving, snorkeling and picturesque beaches.
QATAR AIRWAYS NAME LONDON AND PARIS
AS FIRST A380 DESTINATIONS
Qatar Airways has announced that once they will receive their
long awaited Airbus A380, the first destination to be served
with the giant aircraft will be London Heathrow, later to be
followed by Paris CDG. The aircraft will be configured in a
three class cabin layout, featuring First, Business and Economy
in what will arguably be the best and most comfortable design of
its kind. It is understood that the First Class Suites will
rival those of QR’s nearest competitors, if not outdo them,
while both Business and Economy will put to shame the crammed
environment many other airlines using the A380 subject their
passengers to.
Meanwhile is Qatar Airways stepping up the deployment of the
B787, as more of the aircraft are joining their fleet.
Qatar Airways is presently flying daily to Entebbe and on to
Kigali, once a day to Kilimanjaro and serves Nairobi and Dar es
Salaam double daily with an Airbus A320. Said one of their staff
when asked to comment on the comparison with the wide body
aircraft used by their closest competitors: ‘The
flight to Doha is just about 5 hours. The A320 are state of the
art aircraft with inflight connectivity and inflight
entertainment. Our catering on board is first class or we would
not be a 5 star airline. Turkish comes here with a B737-800 or
in some cases the B737-900, Etihad comes to Nairobi with an A320
too, so this strategy to open up markets is proven. The use of a
smaller aircraft also allows for a second daily frequency to
airports with some more demand, which gives greater flexibility
to our passengers. The announcement 3 weeks ago of a partnership
with Fly 540 also expands our reach in Kenya and the region,
because we can now serve passengers from beyond Nairobi or other
main airports to which we fly. And we have no complaints about
the type of aircraft we operate from East Africa to Doha and
from there are our wide body aircraft take passengers to their
final destination across the globe. We are also still the only
Gulf carrier operating the new B787 Dreamliner’
said a staff of the airline on condition of anonymity for not
being the official spokesperson for the carrier in the region.
The new Doha international airport which is due to open later
this year, has according to earlier information received from
the airline – which also operates the airport – been purpose
built to cater for the Airbus A380 and the combination of a
brand new mega airport and a fleet of brand new mega planes will
undoubtedly raise the profile of QR even further across Eastern
Africa. Watch this space for regular and breaking news from the
region’s vibrant aviation sector.
Qatar Airways won the coveted title
of the World's Best Airline at the 2011 World Airline
Awards, in a ceremony at the Paris Air Show. Doha-based Qatar
Airways also receives the Best Middle East Airline award and the
World's Best First Class Airline Lounge award for it's Premium
Terminal facility at Doha Airport. Ranked No 1 in the world, Qatar
Airways pipped the 2008 winner Singapore Airlines into 2nd place,
with Asiana Airlines (Best Airline in 2010) in 3rd position. Cathay
Pacific Airways retained 4th place from last year. Thai Airways
International was an improver in the survey results, rising 4 places
into 5th position.
Doha, QATAR – Qatar Airways is
gearing up for yet another year of massive expansion with the
announcement of launch dates for new routes in Africa, Europe and
Australia.
Qatar Airways Set To Fly To
Rwanda, Home Of the Mountain Gorillas
The African expansion drive is
set to continue with scheduled services starting to the
Rwandan capital Kigali on March 21. Zagreb will boost the
airline’s European portfolio further with the launch of
flights to the Croatian capital from May 9.
And beginning July 3, Qatar
Airways adds Perth as its second route in Australia.
Ahead of the newly-announced
launch dates, Qatar Airways is busy preparing for its 2012
route expansion programme which starts on February 1 with
new services to the south eastern European cities of Baku
and Tbilisi in Azerbaijan and Georgia, respectively. Plans
are also underway to begin flights to Zanzibar (Tanzania),
Gassim (Saudi Arabia), Mombasa (Kenya) and Helsinki
(Finland).
At the height of the summer in
the Northern Hemisphere, the airline unveils its second
Australian route, to the Western city of Perth. Since
launching flights to Australia in December 2009 with direct
services to Melbourne, Qatar Airways has been considering
additional capacity Down Under and is pleased to soon offer
Perth.
Last year, Qatar Airways’
expansion focused on Europe with the introduction of seven
new routes – Bucharest, Budapest, Brussels, Stuttgart,
Venice, Sofia and Oslo, taking its European capacity to 27
destinations.
Croatian
Capital Zagreb Boosts Qatar Airways' European Network
The addition of Baku,
Tbilisi and Zagreb is a significant move for the
airline, probing underserved markets which have
limited capacity. All three routes will provide
excellent connections to diverse destinations across
the airline’s rapidly-growing international network.
Kigali, rich in mining
and a key African business centre, becomes the
latest stop on Qatar Airways’ 16-strong city African
network, which last year saw two destinations added
on the Continent – Entebbe and Benghazi.
Operating via Entebbe,
the daily Kigali flights provide excellent
connections over Qatar Airways’ Doha hub to cities
across the Middle East, Europe and Far East.
Flights to both Kigali
and Zagreb will be operated with an Airbus A320 in a
two-class configuration of 12 seats in Business
Class and 132 seats in Economy.
Perth
Becomes Qatar Airways' Second Australian Destination
Following on
from a highly successful launch of scheduled
flights to Melbourne, Qatar Airways is
venturing further into Australia with
thrice-weekly non-stop services to Perth.
The route will be upgraded to a daily
service from December 1.
The Perth route
will be operated with the long range version
of the airline’s flagship Boeing 777
aircraft featuring 259 seats, configured in
two-classes – 42 seats in Business Class
that convert into fully horizontal flat
beds, and 217 seats in Economy Class.
Qatar Airways
Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said
the airline was expanding on different
Continents as part of its aggressive growth
strategy to open up new routes to key
business and leisure destinations.
“We are
delighted to be forging ahead with our
expansion with today’s announcement of dates
for three new routes on three Continents,”
he said.
“These are
exciting times for Qatar Airways as we begin
our route expansion program in just a few
days’ time by inaugurating services to two
European capital cities.
Qatar Airways To
Fly Boeing 777 on Doha - Perth Route
“In keeping with our
highly focused and tailored growth strategy to
enter underserved and thriving markets all over
the world, the latest additions very much match
our plans to open up a host of new
destinations.”
Added Al Baker: “I
am extremely confident that the wave of new
route announcements for 2012 will bring much
excitement to our passengers and partners in the
new destinations, as well as across our global
network.”
Qatar Airways now
flies to 110 key business and leisure
destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa,
Asia Pacific, North America and South America
with a modern fleet of 104 aircraft. By 2013,
Qatar Airways plans to serve over 120
destinations worldwide with a fleet of more than
120 aircraft.
Qatar
Airways today announced further
expansion of its rapidly-growing
international network with five new
passenger routes, more cargo services
and capacity increases to a number of
destinations served direct from the
airline’s Doha hub.Iraq, Tanzania,
Serbia and Myanmar are featured in the
passenger route expansion program over a
six-month period starting in May. New
freighter services will be introduced to
Korea, Pakistan, South Africa and Oman,
while frequency of passenger flights
will be stepped up to destinations in
Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia
Pacific.
Qatar Airways will induct a second
Tanzanian point to its African map with
the launch of flights to Kilimanjaro.
The Serbian capital Belgrade becomes the
newest addition to the carrier’s
European portfolio in September and the
airline returns to Myanmar, serving the
capital city Yangon from October after a
four-year absence.
Today’s news follows previously
announced start-ups to a number of other
international destinations during 2012,
namely the Rwandan capital Kigali from
March 21, Zagreb (May 9); Perth (July
3); Mombasa (August 15); with dates yet
to be revealed for launches to Zanzibar
(Tanzania), Helsinki (Finland), and
Gassim (Saudi Arabia).
For more information, visit
http://www.qatarairways.com.
Founded in 1993 and re-launched in
1997, Qatar Airways,
based in Doha,
is the national flag carrier, half
owned by the Qatar government,
with the remainder in private hands,
and one of the Middle East's "big
three" network airlines, with
aggressive fleet and route network
expansion plans. The carrier
operates an extensive network of
regional services in Asia and the
Middle East together with
international services to Australia,
Europe, Africa and North America.
Signed up in Oct-2012, Qatar will join
the oneworld global
alliance in late 2013 or early 2014. By
Capa aviation.
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