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Qatar Airways unveiled at the Arabian Travel Mart its newest expansion plans. While Addis Ababa and Philadelphia will be the airline’s newest destinations in Africa and America, Asia will have the largest expansion of capacity with the opening of Clark Airport and the addition of frequencies to Pakistan.
DUBAI – Qatar Airways announced at the Arab Travel Mart route expansion on three continents as well as a major increase in capacity into Pakistan. Other new destinations to be launched will be Addis Ababa in Ethiopia on September 18 and Philadelphia on March 1, 2014.
In Asia, Qatar Airwyas will start serving Clark International Airport in the Philippines. The airport located 80 km north of Manila is also an important gateway to the Northern Part of Luzon Island, the most populated island of the Philippines archipelago. Qatar Airways will be the first Middle East carrier to serve Clark, which has been until now designated as the low cost gateway for the Greater Manila Metropolitan Area.
Commenting on Clark Airport’s opening, Qatar Airways CEO and President Akhbar Al Baker declared: “We have been looking to fly to the Ethiopian capital 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 in the Philippines provides us with great opportunities to boost our presence in the Greater Manila area and northern region of Luzon Island. This comes as good news for the well travelled Filipino community with ever increasing demand for flights to and from the country.”
Qatar Airways currently operates twice-daily scheduled flights to the capital Manila. Earlier this year, the airline also announced to start flying to Chengdu in China. Flights will start from September 3 with three frequencies per week.
From June 1st, Qatar Airways is significantly increasing capacity to Pakistan by boosting its offer by 60%. While the airline currently operates 17 flights each week across four cities of Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar, it will propose from June 1st 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. Akhbar Al Baker declared: “We have had a well established operation in Pakistan for many years, but have always been looking to increase frequency and now thanks to new agreements in place between the relevant authorities, we can soon enjoy more capacity between Qatar and Pakistan”.
Meanwhile, the airline also announced to reintroduce progressively its five Boeing 787 Dreamliners, which were immobilized since January. Gradual phasing will see the return of the aircraft on long-haul routes such as London Heathrow, Munich, Frankfurt and Zurich.
“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,” added Mr. Al Baker.
Qatar Airways has seen rapid growth in just 16 years of operations, currently flying a modern fleet of 123 aircraft to 126 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and The Americas.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
