Tag Archives: Doha

Hamad International Airport (HIA) has joined the top tier of global airports becoming the sixth airport in the world to receive the ‘5-Star Airport’ designation by Skytrax, the London-based aviation institute and the gold standard for conveying the passenger’s voice in airport and airline rankings. This makes HIA the first ever airport in the Middle East to earn this acclaimed title. The prestigious 5-Star Airport rating is awarded to airports achieving the highest, overall Quality Performance. The 5-Star Airport rating recognises those airports providing excellent facilities for customers combined with high quality airport staff service. Airport Quality ranking covers front-line areas for departures, arrival and transfer, including airport facilities, customer service, security, immigration, shop outlets and food and beverage facilities. The highest rating – five stars – has previously only been awarded to five other airports worldwide: Singapore, Seoul, Hong Kong, Tokyo-Haneda and Munich.

Emirates launched the world’s shortest scheduled A380 service, flying a distance of 379 kilometres with a total travel time of 1 hour and 20 minutes from Dubai to Doha, and 1 hour 10 minutes on the return journey. Outbound flight EK 841 departs Dubai at 0745hrs, arriving in Doha at 0805hrs. The return flight, EK 842, departs Doha at 0950hrs, arriving in Dubai at 1200hrs. The timing of the A380 service means customers from Doha flying to popular destinations like New York, London Heathrow, Frankfurt, Manchester, Dusseldorf, Milan, Paris, Rome and Amsterdam, can now enjoy a seamless A380 experience and also have a wider choice of “all A380” flight itineraries for their journeys. Emirates has steadily grown its presence in Doha and now operates with nine daily flights, making it the most served destination in the airline’s network. Demand between Dubai and Doha is strong, and in the last five years Emirates has carried over 3.7 million passengers between the two cities. The Emirates A380 serving Doha operates in a three-class configuration, with 429 generously pitched seats in Economy Class on the main deck, 76 flat-bed seats in Business Class and 14 First Class Private Suites on the upper deck. Passengers in all classes can enjoy Emirates’ exceptional hospitality as well as its multi-awarded Ice Digital Widescreen in-flight entertainment system with a choice of over 2,500 channels on-demand, including a wide selection of Arabic programming. The double-decker A380 is the world’s largest commercial aircraft in service, and has been tremendously popular with travellers across the globe with its spacious cabins and quiet journeys. Emirates is the largest operator of this aircraft and currently has 87 A380s in service and 55 …

Qatar Airways has announced an expanded codeshare agreement with British Airways, which will provide travellers with a wider choice of flights and an enhanced network. With the launch of British Airway’s non-stop service between London and Doha, travellers will benefit from seven daily flights to Heathrow, improving connectivity on to each airline’s network. The expanded code-share network will now also include all of British Airways’ flights within the United Kingdom, covering Aberdeen, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Leeds, Bradford, Manchester and Newcastle. Additionally, Qatar Airways will code-share on a number of routes from London Heathrow to Europe, including all services to Dublin in Ireland; Hamburg and Stuttgart in Germany; Luxembourg; Basel in Switzerland; Bilbao, Malaga, Ibiza and Palma in Spain; Lisbon and Faro in Portugal; and Billund in Denmark. This codeshare follows the recent announcement that Qatar Airways and British Airways will commence a joint business agreement from October 30, the same date as the first direct scheduled daily British Airways flight flies between London Heathrow and Doha. As part of the agreement, all non-stop flights between the United Kingdom and Doha will operate under the code-share agreement allowing both Oneworld carriers to provide passengers with better links between the UK, Asia, Middle East and Africa.

Qatar Airways has announced the addition of special weekend getaway flights, to make quick weekend trips easier for people of Doha and Dubai. These new flights are effective from October 3, 2016. The flights are timed to make the most of the weekend, with a Thursday afternoon departure from Doha at 15:50, arriving Dubai International Airport at 18:00 local time, and the Dubai flight leaving at 19:00, arriving in Doha at 19:10 local time. For the Saturday return, weekend revelers can depart Doha at 14:50 and arrive in Dubai at 17:00, or leave Dubai at 18:00 and arrive in Doha at 18:10. These special weekend flights are in addition to Qatar Airways’ 19 other daily flights serving Dubai International Airport and Dubai World Central. Qatar Airways currently offers 15 daily flights to Dubai International Airport, and four daily flights to Dubai World Central.

Doha has 41 projects and 11,722 rooms in its hotel construction pipeline, according to a new report. The Doha Hotel Construction Overview report by TOPHOTELPROJECTS prepared exclusively for The Hotel Show Dubai 2016, reveals that Doha is the 3rd busiest city in the Middle East and Africa for hotel construction, behind only Dubai (133 projects) and Riyadh (47 projects). Doha’s busiest year for hotel openings is forecast to be 2017 with 14 new properties entering the market, including: Pullman Doha West Bay (468 rooms), JW Marriott West Bay (297 rooms), Hilton Garden Inn Doha Al Sadd (225 rooms), and Millennium Plaza Doha (232 rooms). The five-star Millennium Plaza Doha will open as part of the new Barwa Al Sadd development located in the heart of Doha. Comprised of four high rise towers offering commercial, residential and office space, the major project, currently under construction, will also offer a range of restaurants, shops and recreational facilities. Kassab added: “Barwa Al Sadd is set to be an exciting new addition to the city for both visitors and residents. Millennium Plaza Doha will be the only hotel within the development, offering an ideal base for business and leisure trips as well as for residents looking for a central location for business meetings, dining or celebrations.” TOPHOTELPROJECTS will present on development hotspots in the Middle East and Africa including Doha at the 4th edition of The Hotel Show Dubai’s annual Vision Conference, part of the “Update on market and consumer patterns and trends: get the inside track” panel discussion on 18th September 2016, 11:00-11:50am.

Emirates will add two additional daily flights to Doha, effective October 30, 2016 making it nine daily flights to the Qatar capital. Emirates currently operates seven daily flights to Doha, and the addition of the two services will grow the airline’s presence in Qatar and take the total number of weekly Emirates flights to 63. So far in 2016, over half a million passengers have travelled on the Dubai-Doha service. In the first three months of 2016, there was a 26 per cent spike in visitor volumes to Dubai from Qatar over the previous year (according to Dubai Tourism and Commerce Marketing). The timings of the new Doha services have also been scheduled to facilitate shorter connection times to popular destinations in Southeast Asia such as Singapore, Cebu and Clark. Furthermore, the new flights introduce convenient connections to popular European destinations such as Lisbon and Larnaca, Capetown in Africa and Los Angeles in the US, increasing access to key business and leisure centres both east and westbound. Through its hub, Emirates will also be seamlessly connecting passengers to its extensive route network of over 150 destinations, served by a fleet of all wide body aircraft offering a superior level of comfort as well as the latest products and services on board for customers. The airline’s network also encompasses more than 40 cities around the globe served by the iconic Emirates A380.

Abu Dhabi Airports has announced a 5.6 per cent increase in passenger traffic at Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) for May 2016, compared to the same month last year. A total of 1,982,010 people travelled through AUH last month, exceeding May 2015’s figure of 1,877,440. A number of destinations witnessed noteworthy growth in passenger traffic, with the UK exceeding its May 2015 figures by 18.4 per cent last month, and Egypt recording a 24.3 per cent increase over the same period last year. The number of travellers with AUH as their final destination was 355,457 up by 4.6 per cent. The top-five routes were Bombay, Doha, London Heathrow, Manila and Jeddah respectively. Arrival and departure transfers both showed an increase of 7.5 per cent and 7.7 per cent respectively compared to the same month last year, while the total number of transfer passengers recorded was 1,279,599, up by 7.6 per cent, reflecting the airport’s connectivity and position as a global hub.

The inaugural flight to Birmingham from Doha left last week making it 73 flights per week between Doha and United Kingdom. Currently, Qatar Airways serves London Heathrow, Manchester and Edinburgh non-stop from Doha. This gateway, with direct flights between Doha and Birmingham, connects the city with more than 150 destinations worldwide. The addition of Birmingham marks the fourth U.K. gateway for Qatar Airways after London Heathrow, Manchester and Edinburgh, with the eight weekly services operated by the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. The inaugural flight touched down on 30 March and was greeted by a traditional water salute, while Qatar Airways’ Chief Commercial Officer Dr. Hugh Dunleavy, who travelled on board the inaugural flight with UK Ambassador to Qatar, His Excellency Ajay Sharma, were greeted at the arrival gate by Birmingham Airport’s Chief Executive Officer, Paul Kehoe. Qatar Airways now operates 73 flights per week to the U.K., with 42 flights per week to London Heathrow, 16 to Manchester, seven to Edinburgh and eight to Birmingham, from its state-of-the-art hub, Hamad International Airport.