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Qatar Airways Delhi flights from July 14
Qatar Airways is launching flights to New Delhi from July 14 as well as increasing the capacity on existing services.
Qatar Airways is launching flights to New Delhi from July 14 as well as increasing the capacity on existing services following successful bilateral discussions between the two countries on air services.
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said he was delighted that the airline was spreading its long-awaited service to New Delhi.
"Delhi has been on our radar screens for many years and I am extremely pleased to say we are able to launch scheduled flights to India's capital," he said.
"The Indian government has been extremely pro-active in recent months in opening up the skies to more services, and I applaud their approach to make the aviation environment to and from India more competitive," he added.
"Our new Delhi flights and additional capacity going into Mumbai, Hyderabad and Cochin will help meet the demand, particularly during the summer rush and also help grow our overall business and leisure traffic to India."
Al Baker added that Qatar Airways would further increase capacity to India to fulfil its permitted quota of services as new aircraft are introduced into the fleet. Qatar Airways has been allowed to almost double the number of weekly seats that it can offer between Qatar and India.
Qatar Airways currently operates 19 scheduled flights a week between Doha, the airline's operational hub, and four Indian destinations - Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad and Mumbai.
This summer, the airline will increase the capacity to India with 11 additional flights a week, taking the number of services to 30 across five Indian cities.
The Delhi route will initially be operated with an Airbus A320 in a two-class configuration of 12 seats in Business and 132 in Economy. The Delhi route, the airline says, will offer excellent connections over Doha to and from European and Middle East cities served by Qatar Airways.
The route will later be upgraded to a wide body Airbus A330 in a three-class configuration of First Class, Business and Economy, featuring Qatar Airways' revolutionary interactive Audio Video On Demand in-flight entertainment system and premium cabin seats that convert into flat beds.
Qatar Airways is also expanding the capacity on existing routes to India.
From July 15, the Mumbai route will increase from six services a week to daily flights with the introduction of a new Friday night flight from Doha.
Kochi, currently served three-times-a-week, will be boosted with two additional weekly departures, on Mondays and Wednesdays from Doha, beginning on July 18.
On July 21, a fourth weekly frequency will be added to the Hyderabad schedules with the launch of an early morning Thursday flight.
Qatar Airways currently operates scheduled flights from Doha to 65 destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, the Indian subcontinent and the Far East. The airline will add the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, to its growing list of destinations from Nov 15.
