Qatar Airways expands 787 European coverage

Qatar Airways on Monday announced its Boeing 787 European expansion plan with the deployment of the next generation aircraft on three additional routes – Munich, Zurich and Frankfurt.

The Doha-based carrier has started flying the Dreamliner on the Munich route four-times-a-week.

Effective on Monday, the first-ever commercial flight of a Boeing 787 to Switzerland also launched, the airline said in a statement.

Beginning February 1, one of the double daily services to Frankfurt will be served by a Boeing 787. February 1 will also signal an increase of 787 frequency on the Munich and Zurich routes to daily, it added.

The addition of the German-speaking cities to the already established 787 on one of the five daily London Heathrow flights takes to four the number of European routes featuring the aircraft.

Also starting February 1, Qatar Airways will deploy the 787 on all daily flights from Doha to Perth. Qatar Airways will be the first airline to operate Dreamliner flights to and from Australia.

Qatar Airways currently operates four 787s, with a further 56 pending delivery. The airline took delivery of its first Boeing 787 in November.

Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said: “In addition to introducing new routes, we are also relentlessly focused on improving the passenger experience when travelling with Qatar Airways. This is why there is so much hype around our Boeing 787 – it offers the travelling public a second-to-none flying experience straight through from comfort, to entertainment to gastronomy.” 

Qatar Airways is one of the world’s fastest growing airlines, currently operating 117 aircraft to 123 destinations worldwide with plans to fly over 170 aircraft to more than 170 destinations by the end of 2015.

Over the next few weeks and months, Qatar Airways will launch services to a diverse portfolio of new routes, including Najaf, Iraq (January 23); Phnom Penh, Cambodia (February 20); Chengdu, China (March 19); Chicago, USA (April 10); and Salalah, Oman (May 22).