Qatar Airways Takes Off to the Spice Island in Expanded Summer Offering

Gulf carrier, Qatar Airways, has launched its second new destination of the year, touching down in the Spice Island of Zanzibar on July 1, 2015. Zanzibar is the airline’s third route in Tanzania, following Dar-es-Salaam and Kilimanjaro.

Qatar Airways will initially operate five weekly flights to Zanzibar via Kilimanjaro, and commencing October 1, 2015, the airline will offer an additional two weekly flights making it a daily operation. Out of the daily flights from October, passengers will be able to fly non-stop to Zanzibar three-times-a-week and on a linked flight via Kilimanjaro four-times-a-week.

After launching flights into Tanzania in 2007 with a regular link between Doha and Dar es Salaam, Qatar Airways introduced flights to Kilimanjaro from 2012, operating as a triangle route in conjunction with its existing destination. The new link to Zanzibar will see Kilimanjaro delinked from Dar es Salaam and instead being served directly from Doha.

The mystic spice island of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean will take the total number of destinations in the airline’s African network to 20 cities. The new destination is a popular island holiday spot for leisure travellers with its white sandy beaches, abundant wild life, rich culture and long history.

“This latest route marks yet another significant milestone for the airline that has spread its international wings to its 20th gateway in Africa and 148th destination globally,” said Marwan Koleilat, chief commercial officer, Qatar Airways, following the arrival of the inaugural service.

“Zanzibar’s attraction as a tourist destination has been steadily growing as more travellers discover its wonderful combination of cultures, and Qatar Airways is delighted to be able to give more people the opportunity to visit this beautiful island with all it has to offer,” he added.

The Doha – Kilimanjaro – Zanzibar route is being served by an Airbus A320 aircraft in a two-class configuration of 12 seats in Business Class and 132 in Economy.

A study of passenger flows on Qatar Airways’ existing flights into Tanzania over the past 12 months data shows the airline is carrying around 15,000 bi-directional passengers a month on its flights in and out of Tanzania with very healthy loads.

Alongside the new service Qatar Airways has announced network frequency increases to multiple destinations across its global network. The carrier is adding frequencies to its popular routes – Dubai (UAE), Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), Peshawar (Pakistan), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Belgrade (Serbia), Sofia (Bulgaria), Asmara (Eritrea), Djibouti (Djibouti), Najaf (Iraq), Luxor (Egypt), Salalah (Oman) and Zanzibar (Tanzania) all of which are launching over the coming months.

The increases in frequency will provide business and leisure travellers to and from these destinations with more flexibility and greater choice to connect onto Qatar Airways’ extensive global network covering Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America.

From July 16, Qatar Airways will increase its frequency on the Doha – Dubai route with one additional daily flight, taking its capacity up to 15 services a day to Dubai International Airport, which also takes the total frequency to Dubai (International and World Central Al Maktoum International) to 19 flights a day. Dubai has the highest frequency in the airline’s route network and this popular Gulf destination is currently served 126 times a week.

Flights to destinations in the Middle East has also increased with an additional daily flight during Ramadan to Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; from June 18, services to Jeddah have risen from double-daily flights to triple-daily flights. The third daily flight to Jeddah is being operated with an all-premium First Class service (See 'Qatar Airways Brings Premium Aircraft Operation to Jeddah Route').

Qatar Airways will also be strengthening its commitment to Pakistan. After the recent announcement to launch flights to three new destinations (Sialkot, Faisalabad and Multan), the airline is expanding further in Pakistan with Peshawar moving from three weekly flights to daily flights effective from October 1, 2015.

The popular Far East destination of Kuala Lumpur, which is currently served 21 times-a-week, will have three additional flights from July 2, 2015 to August 29, 2015, helping to supplement busy travel demands during this summer season.

The airline’s Sofia - Belgrade linked route, which is currently served with five flights a week, will see an increase to daily flights after adding two more flights from this past week. Expansion in Africa includes one additional weekly flight to both Asmara and Djibouti, which launched from July 1, 2015 and July 3, 2015, respectively. Service to Luxor in Egypt will increase with one more weekly flight effective from November 1, 2015 to March 20, 2016.

Najaf in Iraq will be operated with two additional weekly flights from July 15, 2015 taking its frequency to ten weekly flights. From September 18, 2015, four additional weekly flights will be launched to Najaf making it a double-daily operation. In addition, Qatar Airways will operate three more weekly flights to popular Oman tourist destination Salalah from October 6, 2015.