Qatar Airways adds new 7 routes

Qatar Airways announced its 2012 route expansion programme on Wednesday focusing on Australia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East with a raft of new destinations set to join the airline’s rapidly-growing global network.

Highlights include Perth (Australia), Helsinki (Finland), Zagreb (Croatia), Gassim (Saudi Arabia), and three East African cities – Zanzibar (Tanzania), Kigali (Rwanda) and Mombasa (Kenya).

Operating from the airline’s hub in Doha, all seven new routes will be launched over the next few months. They will join previously announced Baku and Tbilisi, the capital cities of Azerbaijan and Georgia, respectively, which are will become part of Qatar Airways’ family of routes from February 1.

Speaking at the Dubai Air Show on Wednesday, Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker unveiled the new destinations, stressing the airline’s relentless expansion strategy was continuing with vigour.

“We are continuing what we started back in 1997 when Qatar Airways was launched with new routes and new aircraft being introduced at an unprecedented rate to further strengthen what is truly a global network airline,” said Al Baker.

“Our mission has been to operate to key business and leisure destinations around the world, but also to underserved markets where others dare not venture into. We take bold decisions to serve certain markets because we believe it makes strong business sense.

“Today’s announcement shows the confidence Qatar Airways has in such a diverse range of destinations. We look forward to offering even greater choice to the travelling public that they so deserve.”

Qatar Airways’ African expansion which, in the past two weeks, has included route launches to Entebbe in Uganda and the Libyan port city of Benghazi – the first on the African continent since 2007 – will see three more destinations added in the region next year.

The airline’s aggressive 2011 expansion programme has so far seen the launch of flights to 14 destinations – Bucharest (Romania), Budapest (Hungary), Brussels (Belgium), Stuttgart (Germany), Aleppo (Syria), Shiraz (Iran), Venice (Italy), Montreal (Canada), Medina (Saudi Arabia), Kolkata (India), Sofia (Bulgaria), Oslo (Norway), Benghazi (Libya) and Entebbe (Uganda).

The Chinese city of Chongqing becomes Qatar Airways’ final new route of 2011, being launched as its fifth gateway in China on November 28.

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