TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA QATAR Airways showcased new in-flight products at the International Tourism Bourse (ITB Berlin) which concluded in Berlin, Germany, on Sunday.

The airline exhibited its latest suite of amenity kits and its newly-unveiled Boeing 787 Dreamliner Business and Economy Class seats, housed in a custom- designed exhibition stand at the ITB.

The first of 60 Boeing 787s, of which Qatar Airways is the Middle East launch customer, will join the fleet this summer.

With 14 new routes being added to Qatar Airways’ international network during 2012, visitors at the event were keen to learn more about the airline’s global expansion and the New Doha International Airport set to open at the end of the year.

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar al Baker hosted a press conference to announce the airline’s expansion plans with the launch of flights to Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Erbil and Baghdad in Iraq, Belgrade in Serbia and Myanmar, the capital of Yangon.

The new routes will be part of an overall expansion during 2012, which will also see the launch of previously announced services to the Rwandan capital of Kigali from March 21.

The carrier will also commence flights to Croatia’s capital city Zagreb from May 9; Perth in Australia from July 3 and Mombasa in Kenya from August 15.

During the show, Qatar Airways also announced a number of capacity increases to various destinations, including Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, London Heathrow, Milan, Algiers, Cairo, Abu Dhabi, Muscat, and Kuwait City, as well as new cargo flights to Karachi, Johannesburg, Seoul and Muscat.

The capital cities of Tbilisi in Georgia and Baku in Azerbaijan were the airline’s first new routes of 2012, which began on February 1
The airline will also announce the launch dates of its flights to Zanzibar in Tanzania, Helsinki in Finland and Gassim in Saudi Arabia this year.

Qatar Airways has seen rapid growth in just 15 years of operation, currently operating a modern fleet of 105 aircraft to 112 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America.