Qatar Airways yesterday unveiled the launch dates of three new passenger destinations in Pakistan as part of the airline’s continued expansion strategy.

From July 16, the airline will begin four weekly passenger services to Sialkot where it already operates dedicated freighter services three times a week. Sialkot also marks Qatar Airways’ first new passenger route to Pakistan since 2004.

A day later, on July 17, Qatar Airways will add Faisalabad to its Pakistan network with three flights a week. Then, from August 1, Qatar Airways will expand its services further in Pakistan with the launch of three flights a week to Multan.
Qatar Airways currently operates 45 flights a week spread across four cities in Pakistan – double daily flights to Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, and three flights a week to Peshawar. 

Karachi was launched by the airline in 1995, Peshawar in 1998, Lahore in 1999 and Islamabad in 2004.
Qatar Airways Group chief executive Akbar al-Baker explained the importance of the new routes to Pakistan, saying: “We have had a well-established operation in Pakistan for many years, but have always been looking to expand more, and now thanks to new agreements in place between the relevant authorities, we will soon enjoy significantly greater capacity between Qatar and Pakistan.”

Faisalabad is Pakistan’s third largest city and has experienced rapid industrial development as it has nurtured itself into a major growth centre with high economic activity. Key markets in Qatar Airways’ route network for Faisalabad will include destinations in the Middle East and the Americas – Jeddah, Dubai, Muscat, Bahrain, Kuwait, New York, Washington, Chicago and Montreal.

Sialkot is a large economic hub as the city boasts of several manufacturing industries. It is the world’s largest producer of hand-sewed footballs, with local factories manufacturing 40-60mn footballs a year, amounting to roughly 70% of the total world production. Europe, the Americas and the Middle East are important regions for travel to and from Sialkot and key destinations include London Heathrow, Manchester, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Rome, Dammam, Abu Dhabi and New York.
As a commercial and industrial centre, Multan is well connected with industrial hubs in the rest of the country through rail and air. The city is also an important agricultural centre as it is home to a wide variety of crops and livestock. Qatar Airways’ key destination markets to Multan include routes in the Middle East and North America.
Qatar Airways will operate an Airbus A320 in a two-class configuration of up to 12 seats in business class and up to 132 in economy class on all the new routes to Pakistan.

With five new destinations on the horizon (Amsterdam, Durban, Faisalabad, Sialkot and Multan), Qatar Airways will increase its global portfolio to 151 destinations across Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, North America and South America.

[Gulf Times]