Qatar Airways increases flights to Asia

Qatar Airways detailed its commitment to expanding its presence and offering in the Asian Market at ITB Asia, the region’s largest travel trade show taking place in Singapore between October 20 and 22.
The airline is promoting new routes to Phuket and Hanoi and increased services to Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City, together with exciting stopover packages for international events in Doha to make a trip to Asia an even more attractive option for European travellers, the carrier announced the plan on October 21st.
Qatar’s new route to Thailand’s premier resort island of Phuket offers flights six times a week, increasing to daily flights in November via Kuala Lumpur and connecting to several of Qatar Airways’ key markets in Europe. Launched on October 12, this is Qatar’s second route to Thailand and the 8th new international destination it has launched this year. The Phuket services are part of an overall capacity increase to Thailand, which is witnessing a rapid post-recession recovery in tourism with arrivals expected to top 14 million in 2010. Qatar Airways boost its Doha – Bangkok frequencies from twice daily flights to triple daily effective from November 1. Qatar Airways will exercise fifth freedom traffic rights allowing it to sell tickets between Phuket and Kuala Lumpur.
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said that the airline’s route to Thailand’s largest island reinforced the airline’s commitment to target underserved Asian markets. On November 1, Qatar will commence four flights a week to the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, as well as increased frequency to Ho Chi Minh City from three flights a week to daily.
“Visitor numbers to Asian destinations such as Phuket and Hanoi are on the rise and Qatar Airways will look to take advantage of our European connections from countries like Russia, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, the UK and other parts of Europe to expand the market. With only a handful of airlines offering flights from Europe to these destinations, the opportunity is there for us to acquire market share,” said Al Baker.
In Asia-Pacific, Qatar Airways’ route network now extends to 17 destinations and makes up almost 20 per cent its global network.
Qatar Airways Stopover Packages
To sweeten the offer further, Qatar is taking advantage of the many international events in home-base Doha offering VIP stopover packages through Qatar Airways Holidays.
Qatar is launching the VIP deal with the World Tennis Association Championships- Doha 2010 and the 2nd Annual Doha Tribeca Film Festival from October 26 to 31. More event-linked offers will be rolled out during 2011 providing travelers with VIP tickets and select hotels to create exclusive stopover package.
Qatar Airways Awarded
Recognising its long-term partnership with Asia and growing services and products, Qatar was recently awarded two major industry accolades: Best Middle Eastern Airline By TTG Asia Magazine for the 5th consecutive year and Best Middle Eastern Airline Business Traveller Asia-Pacific for the 2nd year running.
Both awards are in recognition of Qatar Airways’ strong commitment towards travel excellence as voted by readers of TTG Asia – a prestigious weekly travel trade magazine published across Asia – and the monthly Business Traveller Asia Pacific, which also has sister titles worldwide aimed at frequent fliers.
Qatar Airways is the only Middle East carrier in an elite club of Five Star-ranked airlines recognising the best in service excellence by industry audit, Skytrax.
The airline’s Senior Vice President East Asia and South West Pacific, Marwan Koleilat, who picked up the awards on behalf of the airline, said: “Qatar Airways continues to set high benchmarks to remain competitive. Across Asia Pacific, we have made significant inroads with our flights and increased capacity that provide us with extensive reach in one of the world’s most important vibrant regions.”
“The awards are further evidence of Qatar Airways’ success in offering innovative products and services to our passengers,” he said adding, “We are proud that the exceptional standards we set have been recognised by our valuable customers, as well as the travel industry.”
Since February this year, Qatar Airways has launched flights from its Doha hub to Bangalore, Tokyo, Ankara, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Sao Paulo, Buenes Aires and Phuket.
Over the next five months Qatar Airways will introduce scheduled flights to Hanoi, Nice, , Bucharest, Budapest, Brussels and Struttgart. With a growing international network, Qatar Airways is able to offer passengers from across Asia with excellent connections to destinations around the world via Doha.
Qatar Airways operates a modern fleet of 89 aircraft to 93 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and North and South America. The carrier has outstanding orders for more than 200 aircraft worth over US$40 billion.