WITHIN A month of starting operations to Mozambique, Qatar Airways celebrated the launch of its 19th African destination with a VIP dinner in Maputo. Guests from the diplomatic community, Government quarters, businesses and corporates attended the event held at the Polana Serena hotel in Mozambique’s capital city.
The dinner was hosted by Qatar Airways Chief Commercial Officer Marwan Koleilat, who extended a warm welcome to guests to mark the new air bridge between the Republic of Mozambique and the State of Qatar.
Qatar Airways launched thrice-weekly scheduled flights between its hub in Doha and Maputo on 31 October, 2012, with its flagship Boeing 777 long-haul aircraft offering 335 seats in a two-class configuration of 42 in Business and 293 in Economy. The Boeing 777 features the airline’s award-winning fully interactive seat back audio and video Oryx entertainment system with more than 1,000 programmes for all passengers to choose from across both classes of travel.
“We are very happy to see the route performing well and that we can now offer business and leisure passengers from Mozambique a variety of travel options via Doha to a wide range of destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and the Americas,” said Koleilat. “Mozambique is one of the fastest growing economies in Africa, yet underserved in terms of air services, so we are extremely delighted to have moved into this market to help fill a void. With the country known for its historic ties with southern Europe, we have actually opened up an appealing air corridor for friends, families and businesses via our online points in Europe to and from Maputo.”
Key connecting points for passengers to and from Mozambique on Qatar Airways include London, Paris, New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok and Dubai. One of the world’s fastest growing airlines, Qatar Airways has seen rapid growth in just 15 years of operations, currently flying a modern fleet of 114 aircraft to 121 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America.
Across Africa, the airline currently flies to 19 cities – Alexandria, Algiers, Benghazi, Cairo, Dar es Salaam, Entebbe, Luxor, Casablanca, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Khartoum, Kilimanjaro, Kigali, Lagos, Maputo, Nairobi, the Seychelles, Tripoli and Tunis.
Since the beginning of 2012, Qatar Airways has launched flights to 11 new destinations – Baku (Azerbaijan); Tbilisi (Georgia); Kigali (Rwanda); Zagreb (Croatia), Erbil (Iraq), Baghdad (Iraq), Perth (Australia), Kilimanjaro (Tanzania); Yangon (Myanmar), Maputo (Mozambique) and Belgrade (Serbia).
Over the next few weeks and months, Qatar Airways will launch services to a diverse portfolio of new routes, including Warsaw, Poland (5 December), Gassim, Saudi Arabia (7 January, 2013); Najaf, Iraq (23 January); Phnom Penh, Cambodia (20 February); Chicago, USA (10 April); and Salalah, Oman (22 May).