Tag Archives: Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways has announced eight more destinations for 2017-18, in addition to seven previously announced new cities for a total of 15 new gateways. Joining the Qatar Airways’ route network are: Canberra, the airline’s fifth destination in Australia; Dublin, Ireland; Las Vegas, the airline’s 11th destination in the United States; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; Medan, Kualanamu International Airport, the airline’s third destination in Indonesia; and Tabuk and Yanbu, the 9th and 10th destinations in Saudi Arabia. These newly-announced destinations join the already-announced list of new destinations to start in 2017: Auckland, New Zealand will start 5 February 2017, and will be the world’s longest commercial flight; Sarajevo, Bosnia; Skopje, Macedonia; Libreville, Gabon; Nice, France; Chiang Mai, the airline’s fourth destination in Thailand; and Douala, Cameroon. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker said: “Qatar Airways offers the world the best network, the best on board experience and the best connecting experience at Hamad International Airport. We operate the world’s youngest fleet, averaging just five years old, and we fly the most technologically advanced aircraft that provide our passengers with an award-winning experience while also ensuring the most efficient and environmentally friendly operations. Our intention is to ensure our passengers can choose Qatar Airways for all of their travel needs – whether they are flying on business, for pleasure, or a combination of both. With today’s network announcement, we will be able to connect more people to more places than any other Gulf airline, and we will ensure our passengers will delight in the journey. At Qatar Airways, we are going places together with our passengers, and we look forward to welcoming these new destinations …

Qatar Airways has launched a digital membership card for its Privilege Club members, providing them with an option to redeem Qmiles when travelling across the airline’s global network. Available to all Privilege Club membership tiers — Burgundy, Silver, Gold and Platinum — the new digital membership card provides travellers with the same level of service as the physical card using their smartphones or tablets. Members can continue earning and redeeming Qmiles on products and services, priority check-in, extra baggage allowance, special discounts at Qatar Duty Free, accessing Qatar Airways’ lounges and using partner airline services, award fee waivers for Gold and Platinum members, Flexi Awards and online redemption discounts. Travellers can now present their membership card on a smartphone or tablet via the Qatar Airways App, mobile website, Apple Wallet, email or as a saved image on a portable device. The digital membership card will now supersede the physical card for all new Burgundy Privilege Club members and their nominated family members, providing them with immediate access to the many benefits of the Privilege Club programme.

Qatar Airways is in negotiations to purchase a 49 per cent stake in Italy’s Meridiana Fly, revealed Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive His Excellency Akbar Al Baker during a press briefing in Tuscany. H.E. Al Baker said that Italy is an incredibly important destination in their network and they will keep investing in new routes and increase services in this market. Once the runway extension at Florence Airport is complete, they intend to start a service to this historic city. They also committed to upgrade the aircraft type currently flying to Pisa from an A320 to a wide body model as soon as they receive more aircraft in their fleet. Celebrating the launch of the airline’s flights to Pisa in August 2016, the press briefing was also attended by His Excellency Abdulaziz Bin Ahmed Al Malki Al Jehani, Qatar’s Ambassador to Italy.  

Qatar Airways has announced a code-share partnership with Air Botswana, offering Qatar Airways travellers access to three key destinations in Botswana, Africa. The partnership with Air Botswana, the national airline of Botswana, will provide Qatar Airways passengers with connections to the Botswana cities of Gaborone, Francistown and Maun via Qatar Airways’ South Africa gateway Johannesburg. Qatar Airways operates double-daily flights between Johannesburg and its state-of-the-art hub, Hamad International Airport in Doha, with onward flights to more than 150 destinations worldwide. The new code-share agreement allows business and leisure travellers fast and convenient access to the home of Botswana’s rich mineral industry, abundant game reserves, and luxury safari lodges. Botswana’s luxurious tourism experiences are complemented by Qatar Airways’ ultra-modern fleet of aircraft featuring the world’s best Business Class on services to South Africa.

Qatar Airways’ first daily regularly-scheduled Airbus A350 service to London Heathrow arrived in the United Kingdom on Sunday October 30, as the airline introduced the state-of-the-art aircraft on the route, complementing the existing ‘best of fleet’ on its six daily flights from Hamad International Airport. To mark the occasion Qatar Airways followers on social media were able to follow a live tour of the interior cabin of the A350 while on the ground at London Heathrow. The video can is now available at https://www.facebook.com/qatarairways/ The landing of the A350 on Sunday 30 October also marked another milestone for the airline as it took place on the same day as the start of a new joint business agreement between Qatar Airways and British Airways. The agreement benefits customers by offering a wider choice of flights by code sharing on all seven Qatar Airways and British Airways direct daily flights between London and Doha. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said that Qatar Airways Airbus A350 is one of the most advanced aircraft in their fleet, offering passengers an unrivalled level of comfort while experiencing our award-winning hospitality. It is only right that such an aircraft serves one of their six daily scheduled flights from Doha to London, a route further strengthened by their continued partnership with British Airways.

A new free entry transit visa effective from November 1, 2016 was announced by Qatar Airways and Qatar Tourism Authority for travellers to explore the destination within 96 hours.  This scheme allows passengers with layovers of five hours or more in Hamad International Airport to request a complimentary transit visa. The new system will allow transiting passengers of all nationalities to enter Qatar for up to 96 hours in between flights. All visas are granted at the sole discretion of the Qatari Ministry of Interior. Passengers can apply for their free transit visa through any of Qatar Airways’ offices, or online. To be eligible for the transit visa, passengers must have a confirmed ticket for a journey into Qatar, with a confirmed onward journey out of Qatar on a Qatar Airways-operated flight. Terms and conditions apply, which can be found at qatarairways.com/transitvisa

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 added another eight flights a week to Riyadh and one more daily flight to Dammam, increasing its connectivity to the two major Saudi cities, starting October 30, 2016. Through its hub in Hamad International Airport, Qatar Airways will operate four flights a day to King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh, and five daily flights to King Fahad International Airport in Dammam. The additional flights take Qatar Airways’ total connectivity within the Kingdom to 158 flights a week, serving eight destinations: Riyadh, Jeddah, Madinah, Dammam, Hofuf, Gassim, Taif, and Abha. Qatar Airways, the official sponsor of Al-Ahli Saudi FC and F.C. Barcelona recently announced hosting a friendly football match bringing together both teams to play at Shiekh Thani Bin Jassim Stadium (Al-Gharrafa Stadium) on December 13, 2016. Travellers from Saudi Arabia can take advantage of the increased frequencies to visit the new destinations that Qatar Airways has announced this year, which include exciting cities all around the globe, such as Los Angeles and Atlanta in the USA, Adelaide in Australia, Auckland in New Zealand, and numerous others in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Over 50 travel agents and tour operators from Dubai and Sharjah attended the Educational seminar session conducted by Qatar Airways and Orange County. The event took place at Raffles Dubai in association with AVIAREPS the representative for ME region for Orange County. They shared the importance of the destination and the many facilities, language, social etiquette etc to welcome guests from the ME region. Glenn Johnston, Vice President Corporate Communications & Public Relations, GM, UAE/Middle East, AVIAREPS, reiterated key ways to reach out to the clients with the many value added options with the one year partnership with Qatar Airways. They also launched the special privilege e-card for the travel agents and tour operators.

Qatar Airways will provide travellers with greater access to the idyllic white sand beaches and turquoise waters of the Seychelles with daily flights from Doha starting on December 12, 2016. Travellers wishing to explore Seychelles – one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations in the Indian Ocean – will enjoy convenient flights and award-winning service when travelling with Qatar Airways. Residents of the Seychelles will also benefit from the opportunity to connect to the airline’s network of more than 150 business and leisure destinations around the world via the airline’s hub in Doha. The airline’s expanding global reach and modern fleet will take travellers to exciting places across the globe including the airline’s latest destinations launched in 2016: Adelaide, Atlanta, Birmingham, Boston, Helsinki, Los Angeles, Marrakech, Pisa, Ras Al Khaimah, Sydney, Windhoek and Yerevan.