Qatar Airways Announces Expansion in Eastern Europe

Qatar Airways is kicking off 2016 with an expansion programme across Eastern Europe, offering new direct flights from Doha to Belgrade, as well as increased frequencies on existing routes. Passengers travelling between Croatia, Hungary and Azerbaijan, and anywhere in the airline’s global network, will now have a wider range of flight options via Doha’s International Airport.

New Route from Doha to Belgrade

On 16th March Qatar Airways will launch new nonstop flights from Doha to Belgrade, removing the need to stop at Sofia part way through the journey . With four direct flights being available per week, passengers will enjoy significantly reduced journey times.

Increased Frequencies on Eastern European flights

Flights to Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, will increase from daily to 11 flights per week on 27th March. On April 3rd, the airline will increase the frequency of its Doha-Zagreb route from 7 to 10 flights per week. Three months later, on 3rd July, the airline will also increase the frequency of its Budapest service from daily to 10 flights per week.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “Qatar Airways is expanding rapidly, not only in terms of new places and our network offering, but also with the service we offer. Complementing our service in the skies are our transfer facilities at the state-of-the-art Hamad International Airport, coupled with the experience of flying on board one of the youngest fleets in the industry.”

Aircraft Upgrades

In response to increasing demand on its Moscow route, Qatar Airways has switched the aircraft on one of its double daily services from an A320 to a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The aircraft offers 122 more seats per departure, enabling the airline to greatly increase capacity on this particular flight.

The Qatar Airways Boeing 787 has 254 seats in total: 22 Business Class seats with a 1-2-1 configuration, and 232 Economy Class seats with a 3-3-3 configuration. All Business Class seats turn into fully flat beds, ensuring passengers are able to get a decent night’s sleep and land feeling well rested.

Finally, flights to Warsaw will be upgraded from an Airbus A320 to an Airbus A330 aircraft from 1st July, which will allow the airline to carry more passengers on this route. The Airbus A320 currently serves Warsaw and the second daily frequency service to Moscow.