Qatar Airways first Gulf airline to fly to Basra

"It is a great honour for Qatar Airways to be chosen as the first Gulf airline to operate commercial services into Basra since 1991," said Qatar Airways' Chief Executive Officer, Mr Akbar Al Baker.

"Since June, Qatar Airways has been flying regular humanitarian flights to Basra and we welcome the opportunity to begin commercial services to the city.

"This is an important step towards building a normal life for the people of Basra and Iraq, and will be significant in re-establishing the very important links between the Qatari and Iraqi peoples.

"Qatar Airways wants to be able to contribute to this important process for the Iraqi people.

"At present, coalition authorities have given Qatar Airways the approval to fly to Basra, once a week, on Saturdays. We are keen to introduce additional flights as soon as possible.

"Initially we will be using A300-600s on the route. The flight will depart from Doha at 11.05 am and arrive in Basra at 1.30 pm. The return flight will leave Basra at 3.00 pm and return to Doha at 3.25 pm," said Mr Al Baker.

Building on a reputation of premium customer service, Qatar Airways has launched an aggressive growth plan to ensure that it can offer people a greater choice of destination, more flights, and the latest in-flight products and services.

As part of this expansion, Qatar Airways will extend its route network to 50 destinations by the end of 2003. It recently added Manchester, Rome and Moscow to its list of destinations and will soon add Shanghai, Seoul and Tripoli.

Qatar Airways is also expanding its fleet. The airline has just announced a $5.1 billion deal to purchase 32 additional Airbus aircraft in a deal that will increase the fleet to 52 by 2008. It presently operates a fleet of 25 Airbus aircraft.

Qatar Airways is also one of the launch customers for the A380 'super jumbo' in 2007.

The international airline quality monitor Skytrax recently rated Qatar Airways' cabin service as the best of the Middle Eastern carriers, and fifth best in the world.

Qatar Airways operates a number of subsidiary companies including: Qatar Aviation Services, Qatar Aviation Catering Company, United Media International, Qatar Airways Holidays, Doha International Airport, and Qatar Duty Free.