African expansion continues with three weekly flights to Addis Ababa.
DOHA, QATAR – Qatar Airways, the national airline of the State of Qatar, is set to begin three-flights-a-week to Ethiopia’s capital and largest city, Addis Ababa, on September 18, 2013. The new service from Doha to Addis Ababa will be operated with an Airbus A320 in a two-class configuration of 132 seats in Economy and 12 in Business Class.
“Ethiopia is fast emerging as a growing economic centre, forming strong trade links with Europe, USA and Asia Pacific,” said Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker.
“As a route, the country has great potential when linked up with key markets in Europe, Americas and other parts of the world. We are pleased to be reinforcing our presence in Africa with the addition of scheduled flights to Addis Ababa, allowing us to further expand our business on the African continent.”
Addis Ababa joins a rapidly growing African network that Qatar Airways serves, amongst 19 other routes in North, East, West and Sub-Saharan Africa.
In the last 24 months the airline has added the following African destinations to its global route network: Benghazi (Libya); Entebbe (Uganda); Kigali (Rwanda); Tripoli (Libya) – re-launched; (Kilimanjaro (Tanzania); and Maputo (Mozambique).
“Ethiopia is known for its thriving industries including coffee production, agricultural commodity exports and livestock production,” continued Al Baker. “There is clearly demand and huge potential to and from Ethiopia, one of the many underserved markets across Africa. As a global network carrier we are able to fulfill the needs of the travelling public from such markets and for those wanting to travel there from destinations that we serve around the world.”
Passengers can now book tickets through travel agents and Qatar Airways’ website qatarairways.com to take advantage of seamless connections to popular destinations including London, Frankfurt, Paris, Montreal, New York, Chicago and Washington via the airline’s Doha hub.
Qatar Airways has seen rapid growth in just 16 years of operation, currently flying a modern fleet of 127 aircraft to 128 key business and leisure destinations worldwide.
Qatar Airways has so far launched six destinations this year – Gassim (Saudi Arabia), Najaf (Iraq), Phnom Penh (Cambodia), Chicago (USA), Salalah (Oman) and Basra (Iraq).
Over the next few months, the network will expand with the addition of further destinations – Sulaymaniyah, Iraq (August 20), Chengdu, China (September 3), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (September 18), Clark International Airport, Philippines (October 27) and Philadelphia, USA (2 April 2014).
Photo caption: Wonchi Crater Lake, Ethiopia.
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