Qatar Airways has announced three cities will join its global network later this year. India, Norway and Bulgaria have been earmarked for new route development as the airline spelled out its ongoing commitment to international growth, targeting both popular and underserved markets in the Middle East, Asia, Europe and North America from its Doha hub. Qatar Airways' CEO Akbar Al-Baker unveiled the latest expansion details on the opening day of ITB Berlin. Daily flights to the eastern Indian city of Kolkata will be launched on July 27, taking the carrier's capacity in India to 95 services a week spread across 12 cities. In Europe, the airline is to launch four-flights-a-week to the Bulgarian capital Sofia from Sept. 14. In January, the carrier began services to the Romanian capital Bucharest, Hungarian capital Budapest and Belgium's capital city of Brussels. Beginning Oct. 5, Qatar Airways builds on its successful operations in Scandinavia with the start of five-flights-a-week to Norway's capital Oslo. The airline already operates scheduled services to the Swedish capital Stockholm and Denmark's capital Copenhagen. This week, it embarked on the latest phase of its 2011 expansion drive launching three-flights-a-week to Stuttgart, its fourth German gateway and 99th international destination. Europe now accounts for 25 destinations in the carrier's global network. April 6 marks its launch of non-stop flights from Doha to the historic Syrian city of Aleppo, the airline's milestone 100th destination.
Etihad Airways' Emirati employees Ali Al-Shamsi, general manager of Abu Dhabi hub, and Taryam Al-Subaihi, corporate communications manager, are more than halfway through their expedition to the Antarctic, led by renowned polar explorer and environmentalist Robert Swan. Ali and Taryam are part of the group of 65 people hand-picked from 25 nations. By taking part in the expedition Ali and Taryam's findings will contribute to Etihad's corporate social responsibility initiative, which is dedicated to increasing awareness of climate change and protection of the environment, the Abu Dhabi airline stated.
Lufthansa is further expanding its services. This summer, the airline will operate 13,304 flights per week on average, compared with 12,853 flights in summer 2010 - an increase of 3.5 percent. During the forthcoming summer timetable, Lufthansa will offer flights to 211 destinations in 84 countries, as against 204 destinations in 81 countries last year. "In terms of destinations and routes, we have never offered our passengers such a wide choice of flights," says Thierry Antinori, chief marketing officer on the Lufthansa German Airlines' board. "We are expanding in all our traffic areas, not just on long-haul routes, but once again in Europe, too." The summer timetable will be valid from Sunday (March 27) to Oct. 29 October. This summer, passengers will be able to fly with the A380, the most modern aircraft in the Lufthansa fleet, to five destinations - Johannesburg, New York (John F. Kennedy), Beijing and San Francisco (from May 10), and Tokyo (Narita). A sixth destination, which has yet to be announced, will be included in the A380 schedule by the middle of the year. "Despite a significant increase in available capacity, on many flights we will be able to achieve our former seat occupancy levels," says Antinori. "That means we will be able to welcome more passengers aboard our aircraft. The A380 is very popular and, from a commercial point of view, we are also very happy with current booking levels." The summer timetable includes four new destinations/holiday resorts.
SriLankan Airlines continues to expand its global route network, with increases in capacity starting in March to Karachi, Bahrain, Doha and Muscat, and the launch of a daily service to Kochi. In November, the airline increased capacity across its network in support of Sri Lanka's rapidly expanding tourism industry which is enjoying good times following the permanent end to a 30-year war. Tourist arrivals grew by 46 percent in 2010. SriLankan's Worldwide Sales head Mohamed Fazeel said: "Global travelers have once again discovered Sri Lanka, and SriLankan Airlines is expanding services around the world as rapidly as possible to spur on this boom. We are also acquiring more aircraft while upgrading our product and services to give passengers the most delightful experience on board." The Airline last year began reinventing its service vowing "to change the way we fly and the way our passengers experience travel." The carrier's seventh destination in India, Kochi will see services recommence from March 27. This will increase SriLankan's flights to India to 63 per week. The other destinations are Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Tiruchirapalli, Bangalore, and Thiruvanathapuram. The airline earlier served Kochi from 2003, but suspended the service in 2009 during the global economic crisis that caused a worldwide slump in air travel. It also launched a new service to Guangzhou in January, its fourth destination in China.
