Daily non-stop Houston route to Doha provides important business link to Middle East and beyond.
HOUSTON – Last week Qatar Airways, a member of the oneworld alliance, celebrated five years of flying to Houston, Texas. The airline began daily, non-stop service between Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and Doha on March 30, 2009.
Qatar Airways CEO, Mr. Al Baker, said, “This year marks an important anniversary with the celebration of five years of Five-star service from Houston. The Houston–Doha route connects Texas to the world’s leading cities across Africa, Asia, Australia, India, and the Middle East.”
Named the World’s Best Business Class by Skytrax, Qatar Airways attributes the strong performance of the Houston–Doha route primarily to business travelers from Houston’s Oil and Gas Industry, who use the route to connect with the Middle East and other industry centers, such as Perth, Australia.
Houston flyers have also enjoyed Qatar Airways’ flights to popular travel destinations, such as Delhi, Doha, Katmandu and the Maldives.
Qatar Airways Senior Vice President for the Americas, Bart Vos said, “Houston is a city with strong business links to the Middle East, and other parts of the Eastern network which Qatar Airways serves. The route has been consistently popular with both business and leisure travelers and we would like to take this opportunity to thank our Houston customers for their continued support, loyalty, and appreciation of our award-winning Five-star service and product.”
In 2009, Houston was the 84th destination to join Qatar Airways’ global network, which has since expanded to 137 destinations worldwide, including Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, and Washington, D.C. Two new U.S destinations will be added to the airline’s network soon: Miami on June 10 and Dallas/Fort Worth on July 1.
“Our upcoming Dallas/Fort Worth launch is a direct result of the strong, five-year performance of our Houston–Doha route,” said Mr. Al Baker. “When we launched Houston, we knew regional demand would be high and we are confident that the Houston–Doha route will continue to operate at capacity, even as the region embraces a second option through Dallas/Fort Worth.”
Last week, the airline threw a local celebration with members of the Houston travel industry, thanking the community for the five years of continued success.
The Houston–Doha non-stop service is approximately 16 hours flying time and is operated with the airline’s flagship Boeing 777-200LR aircraft, offering 42 seats in Business Class and 217 seats in Economy Class.
Business Class customers can relax and unwind in a seat that converts into a fully-flat horizontal bed, enjoy signature entrees designed exclusively for Qatar Airways by four celebrity chefs, including Nobu, and savor wines expertly chosen by a Master of Wine. Economy Class customers can settle into their comfort zone in a spacious 3–3–3 seating configuration which features 10.6 inch touchscreen individual TV monitors at each seat, along with 5-star meals, fresh pillows, soft fleece blankets, hot and cold refreshing towels, and toiletry pouches.
With the airline’s diverse range of destinations, passengers from the USA can connect through Doha and onwards to key business and leisure destinations across Africa, Asia, Australia, India, and the Middle East. Also, through partnership agreements with American Airlines and US Airways, customers may travel from cities across the U.S., including Austin, Boston, Charlotte, and Los Angeles and connect onto a Qatar Airways flight at one of the airline’s gateway cities. This affords customers the ease of one-stop ticketing and baggage check-in.
Qatar Airways has seen rapid growth in just 17 years of operations, currently flying a modern fleet of 131 aircraft to 137 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, and the Americas.
Over the next few months, the network will grow further with Larnaca, Cyprus (April 29), Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport, Turkey (May 22, 2014), Edinburgh, Scotland (May 28, 2014), Miami, USA (June 10, 2014), Haneda, Japan (June 18, 2014) and Dallas/Fort Worth, USA (July 1, 2014).
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
