Qatar Airways

As 2017 draws to a close, Routesonline looks at some of the biggest stories making the headlines this year. Part one of our review of the year features the US travel ban, Norwegian's expansion, Chinese low-cost carrier Lucky Air's ambitious plans and an interview with Etihad's chief executive Peter Baumgartner.

This week: Qatar Airways bolsters presence in the Greek market and low-cost Indian carrier Indigo adds Middle East flights.

Gulf carrier Qatar Airways has made its first major investment in an Asian airline as it seeks to expand its global influence.

Qatar Airways and Vietjet have entered an interline partnership, while the latter is hoping to expand into long-haul low-cost.

Team Scotland hopeful that joined-up approach means a coherent vision to create a wide variety of new air services.

The 31 percent visitor Asian visitor growth seen by Prague in 2017 is set to kickstart hunt for more long-haul routes.

Qatar Airways is to operate the first regular daily direct long-haul flight linking Wales to the Gulf region.

Sanctions-hit Qatar has announced a programme to allow visa-free entry for citizens of 80 countries as it seeks to encourage air transport.

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While its rivals Emirates Airlines and Etihad Airways are looking closely at the sustainability of their business models, Qatar Airways shows no signs of slowing its incredible network growth and surprised guests at this year’s Arabian Travel Market in Dubai this week by revealing an additional 12 new markets that should see the airline service in 2018.

As first revealed by our Airlineroute news stream in the middle of last month, Qatar Airways is deploying the first LATAM aircraft on one of its two daily flights between Doha and Munich. It debuted on the QR059/060 rotation from March 2, 2017 and another of the LATAM airframes will be used on the second QR057/058 service from April 1, 2017. The additional two LATAM A350-900s will be used on Qatar Airways’ Doha – Madrid route.

As it celebrates the tenth anniversary of its debut in the US market, Qatar Airways has said the new four times weekly link between Hamad International Airport and McCarran International Airport will commence from January 8, 2018. It will be flown using a Boeing 777-200LR.

The open skies philosophy is waning, warn the CEOs of two major airlines amid calls for greater cooperation between airlines.

Melbourne was the original home for Qatar Airways in Australia, with the airline subsequently adding services to Perth, Sydney and Adelaide. With the growth from the original 777-200LR to the A380, the airline has actually doubled its daily capacity since the start of the route while retaining just the single flight rotation.

The eight ‘new’ markets comprise Canberra, the airline’s fifth destination in Australia; Dublin, Ireland; Las Vegas, the airline’s eleventh destination in the United States; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; Medan’s Kualanamu International Airport, the airline’s third destination in Indonesia; and Tabuk and Yanbu, its ninth and tenth destinations in Saudi Arabia.

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Qatar Airways never misses the opportunity to make a major announcement at any trade show that it attends. However, this is normally through major fleet orders at the big airshows and network expansion at business events not major investments in international airlines.

The arrival of Qatar Airways would be a major development for Las Vegas, and the suggested January 2017 launch could have the route established ahead of next year’s Routes Americas forum which takes place the The Aria Resort and Casino Convention Facility in Sin City between February 14 and 16, 2017.

The launch of flights to Chiang Mai comes at a time when Qatar Airways is rapidly expanding its network and will inaugurate 14 new destinations on its route map throughout 2016 and into early 2017, including a number of new markets in Africa.

The Gulf carrier will be able to hold claim to the world’s longest commercial flight, as well as beginning new services in Europe, Africa and South West Pacific / Southeast Asia

Emirates cannot hold claim to the world’s longest route – a service from their hub in Dubai to Auckland, New Zealand – for much longer. Fellow Gulf carrier, Qatar Airways have announced their service from Doha to Auckland to begin in December.

The new service will provide 245,000 additional seats per year and is expected to generate an estimated 3,000 jobs in New South Wales and contribute more than AUD$240 million to the local economy. The new service will also provide 84 tonnes of cargo capacity per week in and out of the New South Wales (NSW) capital.