Qatar Airways plans more Paris flights this winter

Qatar Airways finished with a flourish at this year’s Paris Airshow after revealing on Sunday its services to the French capital will go twice daily in October.

Eric Didier, Qatar Airways’ area manager for France, said the increased services, up from 11 to 14 weekly, would provide more connectivity to destinations in the Middle East, South Asia and Far East.

He added “huge” demand from corporate clients in particular was behind the additional flights to France, which will be introduced on October 25.

“This week at the Paris Airshow we’ve had numerous enquiries from the likes of Total, Renault, Dassault, American Express, French Telecom and others, all interested in our services from France to the Middle East and beyond – as well as renewing and developing partnerships with Qatar Airways,” Didier said.

“Double daily flights between Doha and Paris will give our customers more flexibility, more convenience and more choice.”

The announcement follows various other agreements unveiled by the Doha carrier during the air show.

It signed an order with Airbus for 24 A320s and also agreed a $700m deal for IAE V2500 engines to power the aircraft.

Shortly after announcing this deal, the airline said it was launching corporate jet company Qatar Executive using three Bombardier planes. Among them, two Challenger 605s that can travel 4,000 nautical mile non-stop will be used to operate the service.

The airline is also adding thrice weekly services between Doha and Melbourne to its destination network on December 6. It plans to increase to daily flights soon after with services to Sydney also lined up.

Routes to Amritsar and Goa and two unannounced destinations in Europe will also be introduced this year, according to the airline.

“Qatar Airways this week made yet another a significant mark at the Paris Airshow with a number of announcements showing our commitment to developing our network, expanding our operation, boosting our fleet size, and growing our business – a commitment that we will see through the current economic situation,” said Al Baker.

“Our aircraft orders of the narrow-body A320 family of aircraft, which are both modern and fuel efficient, will give us greater flexibility, operating on European, Asian and Middle East routes with deliveries beginning in November.”

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