Qatar Airways to introduce a second daily rotation on its Doha – Manchester- Doha route from June 1 as it continues its dramatic network expansion. The airline handled 13,430 O&D passengers between the two destinations in 2010, approximately 78 per cent of the market, also handling a large amount of connecting traffic travelling onwards to destinations within the Gulf, Indian sub-continent, Asia and Australasia. However, with just a single daily frequency there has still been leakage to rivals, most notably British Airways via London, Emirates Airline via Dubai and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines via Amsterdam, and the second frequency will allow Qatar Airways to better target its passengers providing a greater range of connections from its Doha International Airport hub. There is a large ethnic population from South Asia living in and around Manchester, which will be able to take advantage of better connections at Doha to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka enhancing travel options to and from the region.
Meanwhile, the airline is preparing for significant capacity increases to Germany with additional flights to Frankfurt and Munich, together with the introduction of services to Stuttgart – its fourth German gateway. With two new weekly flights to Frankfurt, four additional services to Munich and the introduction of thrice-weekly flights to Stuttgart from March 6, the airline’s German frequency rises from 24 to 33 flights a week - services to Germany’s capital city Berlin remain at daily.
With the capacity increase on the Frankfurt route, up from 10 flights a week, effective March 27, selected services will be operated using the airline’s Boeing 777s configured with 42 Business Class and 293 Economy seats. The existing daily Doha – Munich route will continue to be operated with an Airbus A330 with the increased capacity taking effect from March 9.
“By adding these extra flights, we are responding to strong demand for additional capacity on the Munich and Frankfurt routes. The strengthened services will foster new business and tourism links with the largest economy in the European Union,” said Qatar Airways’ Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker.
Away from Europe, Qatar Airways is to launch flights to Shiraz on June 5, its third route to Iran and its 101st global destination. The airline will offer a twice weekly schedule using a 144-seat Airbus A320 with a 12-seat Business Class cabin. The airline expects to attract traffic from around the Gulf as well as from its European and North American schedules.
“Iran is still largely underserved by international carriers and Shiraz in particular presents us with an opportunity to target new business,” said Al Baker. “Iranian expatriates number between four and five million people, with many living in Europe and North America. We have good connections from these continents to Shiraz through our Doha hub, so facilitating travel for this expatriate community would soon be much easier.”
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