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Doha-Sao Paulo direct flight from Qatar Airways
BY OUR AVIATION CORRESPONDENT
May 24, 2006
Qatar Airways is planning to set up a direct flight between Doha and Sao Paulo. Qatar Airways is owned by the government of Qatar. It will start its office in Sao Paulo in June.
"There is not yet a date defined for the beginning of the flight, but the intention is for it to go into operation within the next 18 months," said Ian Gillespie, director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Qatar Airways.
Qatar Airways has an action plan for Latin America and the move to start their office in Sao Paulo is considered to be a part of the plan. A code share agreement would be set up with a Brazilian airline before the direct flight. Most probably, the airline would be Varig. The arrangement would be such that, the Brazilian aircraft will take the passengers till Europe. From there, Qatar Airways will transport passengers to Doha. The two flights would be operated non-stop.
As of now, there are no direct flights between Brazil and Arabian capitals. Through the establishment of this flight route, Qatar Airways is targetting not only the passengers to Doha but also, countries like China, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines and India.
Though the airline is partly owned by the government, the other half is owned by private sector. It currently flies to 67 destinations around the globe. In the first sector of 2005, Qatar Airways had started flights to New Delhi, Athens, Alexandria, Mashad, Tunis and Algiers. In the last sector of 2005, it had started flights to Nairobi, Kenya, Madrid, Spain and Berlin.
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