March 16, 2007: Qatar Airways has announced flights to New York City and Washington D.C. Expected to start by summer 2007, the flights will be in addition to what the airline plans to launch over the next few months.

A report said that in March 2007 alone, the airline will have four exciting destinations added to Qatar Airways’ family of routes operated out of its operational hub of Doha, capital of Qatar. The carrier has scheduled flights to Chennai, Bali and Ho Chi Minh City ,and these services will begin towards the end of March. They follow the successful launch of services to Nigeria’s commercial capital of Lagos on March 1.

Starting this summer, Qatar Airways will operate flights to New York, Washington D.C. and Geneva, with Stockholm following later this year, the report added. A Qatar Airways top official has been quoted as saying that the airline was gearing up for an exciting few months of route launches and increased frequencies on existing services.

The carrier’s first move into the US market this summer represents an important step for Qatar Airways. It is one of only four airlines in the world with a Five Star ranking for service and excellence awarded by Skytrax, the independent aviation industry monitoring agency. Skytrax also named Qatar Airways’ cabin crew as Best in the Middle East for the fourth year running in 2006 and second best worldwide following a survey of more than 12 million passengers worldwide.

A report added that the airline’s fleet will more than double in size over the next 10 years to 110 aircraft. Qatar Airways also plans to acquire 60 Airbus A350s and 22 Boeing 777s, with deliveries of the latter beginning in November 2007.