Qatar Airways to launch flights to Kolkata, Oslo and Sofia

Qatar Airways is to add three cities in India, Norway and Bulgaria to its rapidly growing global network during the second half of 2011, as part of a continued expansion strategy focused on new routes and capacity increases.

Daily flights to the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta, will be launched on 27 July 2011 taking Qatar Airways’ capacity in India to 95 services a week spread across 12 cities.

In Europe, where much of Qatar Airways’ recent expansion has been the focus, the airline is to launch four-flights-a-week to the Bulgarian capital Sofia from 14 September 2011. In January, the carrier began services to the Romanian capital Bucharest, Hungarian capital Budapest and Belgium’s capital city of Brussels.

Beginning 5 October 2011, Qatar Airways will build on its successful operations in Scandinavia with the start of five-flights-a-week to Norway’s capital city of Oslo. The airline already operates scheduled services to the Swedish capital Stockholm and Denmark’s capital city of Copenhagen.

Capacity increases will also see the airline’s Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Manchester and Dar Es Salaam routes go double daily, Geneva, Seychelles and Copenhagen will be upgraded to daily operations.

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said, “New services to Kolkata, Oslo and Sofia reflect our commitment to connect diverse global cities via our Doha hub. Kolkata becomes our 12th gateway city in India, while Sofia is another example of serving underserved markets. And with Oslo set to be part of our network, Qatar Airways will strengthen its presence in Scandinavia as the biggest Gulf-based airline flying to the region.”

By 2013, Qatar Airways plans to serve more than 120 key business and leisure destinations worldwide with a modern fleet of over 120 aircraft. Today, the airline’s fleet stands at 94 aircraft.