Qatar Airways will launch services to a fifth destination in China this winter when it inaugurates a three times weekly service from its Doha International Airport hub to Chongqing on November 28. The new route will bring its total weekly frequencies into China to 28 complementing its existing daily non-stop flights from Doha to Hong Kong, Shanghai and Guangzhou and four-flights-a-week to Beijing. The new flight will be operated with an Airbus A330 in a two-class Business and Economy configuration.
With a population of just over 30 million people, Chongqing has a large industrial catchment area. It is a major manufacturing centre and a key transportation hub located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, a vitally important shipping waterway in China. With Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, it is also one of only four municipalities in China which report directly to the national government. Main local industries in Chongqing are consumer goods and the processing of food, automobiles, chemicals, textiles and machinery. The city is the largest in China for the production of motorcycles and third biggest for motor vehicles.
“China is clearly one of the world’s most important countries on the international stage, being a pacesetter in manufacturing and helping transform the global economic landscape,” said Akbar Al Baker, Chief Executive Officer, Qatar Airways. “Qatar Airways is demonstrating confidence of doing business with partners in China and the opening of Chongqing as our newest route, particularly being an up-and-coming city that is underserved by international airlines, shows our commitment to a vibrant economy.”
Qatar Airways will serve the expanding Jiangbei International Airport in Chongqing, one of the biggest facilities in western China serving a large domestic market but with limited international flights. Global access is typically via other Asian hubs such as Hong Kong, Beijing or Shanghai. The airline will be looking to tap into growing traffic flows to China from the Middle East, Africa and Europe. An estimated 5,000 O&D passengers flew between Chongqing from the Middle East in the last year, but around 27,000 flew to or from Europe, with the main traffic flows from Germany, France and the UK.
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