Qatar Airways announces four new destinations

Qatar Airways has announced it is to begin flying to Rome, Manchester, Kochi and Islamabad in the next couple of months, extending its route network to 42 global destinations.

The addition of Rome, Manchester, Islamabad and Kochi means that Qatar Airways now flies to 42 destinations across Europe, the Middle East, North  Africa, the Indian sub-continent and the Far East.

Qatar Airways will be begin direct flights to Manchester from April 2 and will fly there four times a week using an Airbus A300, bringing the total number of weekly flights to the United Kingdom to 15 per week. The flights to Manchester means that Qatar Airways customers can now enter the UK via Heathrow or Manchester. Qatar Airways will fly direct to Manchester on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

From June 16, Qatar Airways will begin flights to Rome four times a week in association with its existing flight to Milan. Qatar Airways will fly a circular route to Doha-Rome-Milan-Doha, reversing the circular route twice a week. This means that Qatar Airways will be offering direct flights to Rome twice a week, direct flights to Milan twice a week, and flights to both Italian cities four times a week. Qatar Airways will fly Doha-Rome-Milan-Doha on Mondays and Wednesdays. We will fly Doha-Milan-Rome-Doha on Fridays and Sundays.

Qatar Airways will also begin flights to Islamabad on March 31, with convenient connections to Manchester via Doha. Qatar Airways will be serving the Pakistani cities of Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar 13 times a week, flying twice a week to Islamabad, twice a week to Lahore, seven times a week to Karachi, and twice a week to Peshawar. Flights will leave for Islamabad every Monday and Thursday. Qatar Airways will begin its flights to the city of Kochi in Kerala, southern India, from next week using an A300 and A320 aircraft. The flights to Kochi will leave on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays.

With its inaugural flight to Kochi on March 6, Qatar Airways will be serving the Indian cities of Kochi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Trivandrum with 19 flights per week.

As part of an aggressive growth plan, Qatar Airways will extend its route network to 50 destinations by the end of 2004. It will also increase its modern aircraft fleet from 21 to 28 aircraft before the end of this year. Qatar Airways is also one of the launch customers for the 'super jumbo' A380 which will be delivered in 2007.