Qatar Airways to boost flights to Kuwait

Qatar Airways, the Middle East’s second largest airline, is to boost the number of flights between Doha and Kuwait city, amid growing demand from Kuwaiti travellers.

The state-backed carrier will increase its services from six to seven flights daily from April 1, in a bid to boost the number of options for passengers travelling onwards to Europe, the US and Asia.

“Kuwait, one of the airline’s long-standing routes, serves as a pillar part of our Gulf network,” said Qatar Airways’ country manager for Kuwait, Mohammed Al Jumairi.

“[There are] rapid connections via Doha to a host of destinations which are popular for travellers from this region, including London, Bangkok, New York and Shanghai among others.”

Qatar Airways currently operates a fleet of 104 aircraft to over 110 major cities around the world.

The carrier will continue to build on its route network this year in an effort to compete with UAE-based airlines Emirates and Etihad, and as part of its drive to make Doha a regional hub for international travel.

CEO of the airline Akbar Al Baker told Arabian Business in November he planned to roll out up to 15 new routes in 2012 as part of the airline’s ongoing expansion plans.

So far this year, the company has already boosted its services to Kuwait, as well as launching flights to new destinations Baku (Azerbaijan) and Tbilisi (Georgia).

It will add a further seven cities in the coming months, with Kigali (Rwanda) to begin from March 21, Zagreb (Croatia) to start on May 9 and Perth (Australia) from July 3.

Other destinations coming online are Gassim (Saudi Arabia), Helsinki (Finland), Mombasa (Kenya) and Zanzibar (Tanzania).