Qatar Airways to launch flights to Berlin

The award-winning airline will bring its Five Star service to the German capital from December 15. It follows a successful round of bilateral talks between the governments of Qatar and Germany in which Qatar Airways is able to raise capacity between the two countries.

Berlin will become the third German city served by Qatar's national airline from its operational hub of Doha.

As the political and cultural capital of Germany, Berlin has been on Qatar Airways' wishlist of destinations for many years.

Addressing a press conference at Berlin City Hall today, Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said he was delighted to see the airline spreading its wings to the German capital.

"Thanks to the diligent efforts of the airport authority here in Berlin and government officials, Berlin will soon join Qatar Airways' rapidly-growing global route network'', he said.

"Berlin has tremendous history and is a city that enjoys a buoyant tourism industry as well as a strong cultural, economic and political scene".

"We look forward to flying between our respective capitals and, in particular, bring our unique hospitality to the people of Berlin and the city's catchment area".

''Our Berlin flights will provide convenient connections over Doha to Qatar Airways' extensive network of services across the Middle East, Africa, Far East and Indian Sub-Continent.''

From December 15, Qatar Airways will operate four scheduled flights a week using an Airbus A319 in a two-class configuration of eight seats in Business and 102 in Economy on the Berlin route.

Qatar Airways already operates daily services to Frankfurt and non-stop to Munich five-times-a-week. The airline also has a dedicated freighter service to Munich.

The recent bilateral talks concluded with Qatar Airways being permitted to increase capacity to Germany to 21 flights a week in three phases, beginning in Summer 2005 with full implementation by Winter 2006.

In addition to existing services to Frankfurt and Munich, Qatar Airways can serve three new points in Germany by Winter 2006.

Added Al Baker: "Our commercial team in Doha is evaluating other destinations across Germany and we hope to be in a position to announce further expansion into Germany over the next few months."

With Berlin and the Kenyan capital Nairobi being added to the Qatar Airways network this winter, the airline's global route map will expand to 68 cities.

Qatar Airways has established a reputation in the global aviation industry as one of the fastest growing carriers in the world, offering a Five Star service with unique hospitality.

The airline currently flies a modern and young fleet of 40 all-Airbus aircraft with plans to almost triple in size to 110 aircraft by 2015. It recently announced plans at the Paris Air Show to acquire up to 80 aircraft worth more than US$15 billion over the next 15 years.