Qatar Airways adds the ‘Windy City’ as US destination number 4

QATAR AIRWAYS ADDS THE WINDY CITY AS US DESTINATION NUMBER FOUR

The Worlds Five Star Airline has just announced their plans to commence daily flights between Doha and Chicago from April 10th next year onwards, bringing to four the number of US destinations served nonstop, following New York, Washington DC and Houston. The airline, already flying a cargo service twice a week to the Windy City will be using a B777-300ER with 335 seats for the 15 hour flight, offering the award winning business and economy class service for which QR has bagged award after award. The aircraft offers a configuration of 2x2x2 in business class and 3x3x3 in the economy class cabin, 1 seat less per row than most of their competitors, giving the passengers added comfort and space. Qatar Airways flies daily into the East African region using state of the art Airbus A320 equipment, connecting Entebbe and Kigali, Dar es Salaam and Kilimanjaro and Nairobi to their global network. Notably though have flights initially planned for mid August to Mombasa been shelved for the time being, suspected to be a result of a row over verbally assured traffic rights between Nairobi and Kilimanjaro, which the Kenyan government then at the last moment withheld just days prior to the inaugural flight, which was to route from Doha via Nairobi to JRO. The launch flight then had to be hastily re-routed via Dar es Salaam, prompting this sharpish reaction by the airline at a time when Mombasa is in great need of extra flights and travelers, having suffered a more than 20 percent decline of arrivals this year over 2011.
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker, said on the occasion of announcing the new destination: As Qatar Airways continues its aggressive expansion, we are pleased to finally offer another gateway in the United States, this time to the The Windy City of Chicago, five years after we began operations to North America. Chicago is a key route for business and leisure travellers alike, connecting them from destinations across India, Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific with a one-stop service via Doha to the Midwest. For the people of Chicago and the Midwest, we look forward to offering a great travel experience on the worlds best airline to cities across our network with one-stop convenience through our Doha hub. Our onboard experience is distinct and provides an unparalleled commitment to service quality, reinforced by the recent accolade from Skytrax, naming Qatar Airways the worlds best airline for the second consecutive year.
Flying to now 118 destinations around the world with a fleet of 110 aircraft, Qatar Airways continues to take delivery of a new aircraft in average every two weeks and has already announced more destinations to be served in the coming months, including Yangon / Myanmar, Maputo / Mozambique and Belgrade / Serbia. The airline was only recently pronounced the worlds best airline by Skytrax for the second consecutive year and the premium class ground handling in Doha too was awarded the same accolade, expected to get better still when the new international airport will be opened in either late 2012 or early 2013, the exact date still to be announced.
Watch this space for aviation news from the Eastern African region