(TAN): Qatar Airways has already resumed flights to over half the destinations it operated pre-COVID-19, the airline has said. More destinations will be added during September.
Since the onset of the pandemic, Qatar Airways network has never fallen below 30 destinations with continuous services to five continents. By mid-September, Qatar’s national carrier will operate over 650 weekly flights to more than 85 destinations.
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The airline is resuming flights to the following destinations in September:
- Houston (three weekly flights started September 2 increasing to four weekly from September 15)
- Kathmandu (one weekly flight starting September 5)
- Mogadishu (three weekly flights starting September 6)
- Philadelphia (three weekly flights starting September 16)
- Sialkot (three weekly flights started September 1)
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The airline’s variety of fuel-efficient efficient aircraft and strategic network management has also enabled it to increase frequencies in the following destinations:
- Ankara (increased to daily from September 1)
- Baghdad (increaed to 11 weekly flights from September 3)
- Basra (increased to daily flights from September 2)
- Djibouti (increasing to six weekly flights from September 6)
- Erbil (increasing to 11 weekly flights from September 3)
- Ho Chi Minh City (increasing to daily flights from September 15)
- London Heathrow (increased to four daily flights from September 1)
- New York JFK (increased to double daily flights from September 1)
- Sulaymaniyah (increased to daily flights from September 2)
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Qatar Airways Group CEO Akbar Al Baker, said: “The gradual rebuilding of our network has been focused on strengthening connections between our hub in Doha and key gateways around the world as well as major business and leisure destinations. The resumption of flights to Philadelphia will provide seamless connections via our US partners to several key domestic points such as Atlanta, Detroit and Miami. Similarly, the increase in frequencies to Djibouti, Ho Chi Minh City, London and New York will provide further air freight capacity to these important trade and economic centres.”
“The recovery of international travel will take time but returning to over 50% of our pre-COVID-19 network is a significant milestone. Restoring passenger confidence is key,” he added.
To ensure travellers can plan their travel with peace of mind, the airline will allow unlimited date changes, and passengers can change their destination as often as they need if it is within 5,000 miles of the original destination. The airline will not charge any fare differences for travel completed before December 31, 2020, after which fare rules will apply. All tickets booked for travel up to December 31, 2020 will be valid for two years from the date of issuance.
