Qatar Airways increases capacity to India

The award-winning airline is hiking the number of scheduled fights from its operational hub of Doha, capital of the State of Qatar, from 30 to 45 a week starting on December 1. The additional capacity is spread across five Indian cities - Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Cochin and Trivandrum.

The increased capacity, which is a mixture of additional flights and bigger aircraft offering more seats, is effective until either 31 January 2006 or 25 March 2006 depending on the destination. All flights are non-stop from Doha, the operational hub of Qatar Airways.

India's commercial capital of Mumbai sees the additional daily flights operated with the 144-seat Airbus A320s. Two of the Airbus A321-operated flights featuring 177 seats on existing services have been upgraded to the larger A300 aircraft offering 250 seats, while one flight will be operated by the 281-seat A330s. The extra capacity to Mumbai is applicable until the end of the Winter season on 25 March 2006.

The capital Delhi is being served with three additional weekly flights operated by A320s until 31 January 2006. The services complement recently introduced A330s seven-times-a-week on the route.

The additional frequencies to Hyderabad and Cochin in southern India are being operated until 31 January 2006 by a mixture of A320s and A321s.

And five of the daily Trivandrum flights have been upgraded from A321s to A300s. The extra capacity is effective until 25 March 2006.

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker welcomed the Indian government's decision to relax capacity restrictions on foreign airlines to the country.

"India is a strategically important market for Qatar Airways and we are delighted to be able to offer additional flights and introduce larger aircraft on our routes to meet demand during the peak travel period in the run up to Christmas, the New Year and well into 2006,"

he said.

"For the third year running the Indian government has relaxed its policy on capacity restrictions during the winter months which is a much-welcomed sign as it shows the authorities are moving in the right direction towards a more open skies environment.

"Qatar Airways is always trying to facilitate travel for all passengers across the network and so the additional flights will give passengers greater choice and flexibility."

The Indian flights offer a host of convenient connections for passengers travelling to and from Europe, Africa and the Middle East via Qatar Airways' Doha hub.

Qatar Airways currently operates scheduled flights from Doha to 67 destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Indian subcontinent and the Far East. Together with its codeshare partners, the airline serves more than 80 destinations worldwide.

Nairobi was the first of three new winter routes launched by the airline on November 15. It is preparing to launch scheduled flights to the Spanish capital, Madrid, on December 2 and the German capital, Berlin, on December 15.

The airline operates a modern fleet of 42 all-Airbus aircraft, which will almost triple in size to 110 jets by 2015. It recently announced plans to acquire up to 80 aircraft, comprising 60 of the new generation A350s and 20 Boeing 777s worth a total US$15.2 billion.

Qatar Airways is one of the launch customers of the twin-deck Airbus A380 'super jumbos' with four aircraft on order and scheduled for delivery from 2009 to coincide with the opening of the New Doha International Airport, a state-of-the-art facility being built on reclaimed land.