March 21, 2007: State-owned Qatar Airways is doubling the number of flights between Doha and Muscat to meet an increase in passenger traffic between the two destinations. At present, the carrier operates 11 flights a week between the two cities, the capitals of Qatar and Oman, with Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft.

Muscat is one of the existing destinations for Qatar Airways and the carrier intends to increase the flight frequencies, starting from March 25.

The airline is also mulling of increasing frequencies on several new routes, including Bali, Chennai, Geneva, Ho Chi Minh City, New York, Stockholm and Washington DC. This will increase the total number of cities serviced by Qatar Airways to 79 across the globe.

"The passenger traffic between Qatar and Oman is on a rise, and we expect the increase in frequency to provide more convenience for passengers and further facilitate closer ties between the two countries," Qatar Airways Regional Manager for Arabian Peninsula Ali Abdul Khaliq said at a press conference.

Doha is also gaining prominence as a regional hub, with the city becoming a transit point for passenger traffic from Europe, Africa and the Middle East through the Gulf States and beyond, he added.

The carrier has also planned new services under its summer schedule, and intends to operate them from March 24, 2007. The airline would kickoff its summer schedule with a daily Chennai flight and 4 flights per week from Bali, starting March 24.

This would be followed by 4 flights a week to Ho Chi Minh City from March 25, 4 flights a week to Geneva and New York from June 28. The carrier would also operate a 4 flights a week from November 2007 to Stockholm under the summer schedule, apart from a daily service to Washington.

NEW FLIGHTS ANNOUNCED

• Chennai – Daily service, starting from March 24
• Bali - 4 flights a week from March 24
• Ho Chi Minh - 4 flights a week from March 25
• Geneva - 4 flights a week from June 28
• New York - 4 flights a week from June 28
• Washington – Daily from Summer 2007
• Stockholm - 4 flights a week from November 2007

The carrier is also planning to more than double its size to 110 aircraft by 2015. It intends to acquire 60 Airbus A350s and 22 Boeing 777s, with deliveries slated to begin by early November.

Qatar Airways is also ordered for four twin-deck Airbus A380 'super jumbos', deliveries for which are expected to begin from 2009.

The carrier is one of the airlines to have bagged a five star ranking for service and excellence from Skytrax, an independent aviation industry-monitoring agency. Skytrax had also named Qatar Airways' cabin crew as best in the Middle East for the fourth year consecutively in 2006 and second best worldwide following a survey of over 12 million passengers worldwide.