Qatar Airways has celebrated the launch of its first new route of 2007 with its inaugural flight to Tanzania touching down in the country’s commercial capital of Dar es Salaam. Government, airport and media officials were out in force at Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere International Airport to receive QR544 from Doha with the airline’s Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker and a high-level delegation from Qatar onboard.

Qatar Airways’ CEO Akbar Al Baker was joined by Tanzania’s Honourable Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Development, Andrew Chenge and Honourable Minister for Tourism and Natural Resources, Jumanne Maghembe for the official cake-cutting ceremony at the airport.

Dar es Salaam is the first of nine new routes planned by Qatar Airways during 2007. Al Baker said Dar es Salaam was a key city in the airline’s strategy to build a stronger network of destinations across the African continent.

“I am absolutely delighted to see a Qatar Airways aircraft land in Tanzania for the first time to a wonderful and colourful welcome reception,” he said.

“On behalf of Qatar Airways, I would like to thank the government, airport and Tanzania Tourism Board for their efforts in making this route a reality today and I am sure social and commercial ties between our two countries of Qatar and Tanzania will be strengthened with the success of this route. Tanzania is a strategically important country for Qatar Airways as we build our operations across Africa and provide our passengers with greater choice and a wider network of destinations with our award-winning Five Star service.”

Addressing the media, he added: “There is strong traffic between both Europe and the Indian sub continent to east Africa and we, at Qatar Airways, look forward to facilitating travel via Doha for the tens of thousands of passengers a year who fly to and from your wonderful country here in Tanzania.”

“Africa presents huge opportunities and we see this region as a growth area for Qatar Airways. Dar es Salaam is one of the premier business destinations in Africa and the gateway to fantastic holiday retreats such as Mount Kilimanjaro and many game reserves. We expect Dar es Salaam to be a highly popular route with tourists from around the world. All indications show from intensive analysis and research that this will be a highly successful route,” emphasized Baker.

“Dar es Salaam is our 71st route and the first of what promises to be yet another exciting year for Qatar Airways with plenty of wonderful new routes planned during the course of 2007.”

Qatar Airways’ African network currently covers Casablanca, Algiers, Tunis, Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor, Khartoum, Tripoli, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Nairobi. Lagos joins the network in the first quarter of 2007.

Al Baker added that 2007 would be a year of massive expansion in frequencies, routes and fleet size for the airline.

“This is a year of huge celebration. We have come a long way since our relaunch in 1997 when we operated a handful of aircraft to a handful of routes. Now, in our 10th anniversary year, we have exciting new destinations joining Qatar Airways’ growing family of routes, together with more flights on existing routes to give passengers more choice, and brand new Airbus and Boeing aircraft joining the fleet. We take delivery of the first of our Boeing 777s towards the end of 2007.”