Qatar Airways eyes first South American routes

Qatar Airways will add South America to its rapidly expanding network by flying directly to Brazil and Argentina in the next few months, the carrier has announced.

South America’s two largest cities – Sao Paulo in Brazil and the Argentinean capital Buenos Aires – will join the airline’s list of destinations although no launch dates have yet been announced.

The airline will service the cities using its Boeing 777 aircraft, Gulf Times reported on Thursday.

Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires are the latest cities to be targeted by Qatar Airways which launched scheduled flights to the southern Indian city of Bangalore last month.

It also plans to serve Copenhagen, Ankara, Tokyo and Barcelona in the next three months.

“Launch dates for both Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires will be announced in due course,” a Qatar Airways statement said.

Qatar Airways chief executive officer Akbar al-Baker, speaking on the opening day of ITB Berlin, the world’s largest travel and tourism show, added: “By adding Brazil and Argentina, we can finally say Qatar Airways has become a truly global airline touching all parts of the world.”