Qatar Airways is spreading its wings in Africa this winter with the launch of scheduled flights to Nairobi from November 2005. The Kenyan capital will be served non-stop five-times-a-week from Doha, the operational hub of award-winning Qatar Airways.

Nairobi, which becomes Qatar Airways’ ninth destination in Africa, is the trading and regional capital of East Africa and gateway to superb holiday offerings such as safaris in the Masi Mara and beach vacations along the Indian Ocean coast of Mombasa.

Qatar Airways will operate an Airbus A300-600 in a two-class configuration of 18 seats in Business Class and 232 in Economy on the route from November 15. To celebrate the route launch, Qatar Airways is offering members of its Privilege Club frequent flyer programme with double Qmiles for the first full month of the new Nairobi flights.

The airline currently operates scheduled flights from Doha to 65 destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Indian subcontinent and the Far East. Qatar Airways will offer excellent Nairobi connections for passengers travelling via Doha to and from Europe, Middle East and Japan.

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said the addition of Nairobi strengthened the airline’s operation in Africa, which represents around 15 per cent of its route network.

“We are spreading our wings to Kenya to give us greater coverage in Africa which promises to grow even further to a wider network over the next few years,” he said.

“This year alone has seen tremendous expansion on the African continent, with Qatar Airways launching new services to Johannesburg, Cape Town, Tunis and Algiers. We look forward to seeing Nairobi on our route map and this is a destination that will undoubtedly appeal to both business and leisure travellers.”

From wildlife to nightlife, Nairobi is a city that has a fantastic music scene, excellent international restaurants, and a colourful array of shops and markets. Just outside the city is Nairobi National Park, comprising 113 sq kms of plains, cliffs and forest. The park is home to large herds of zebra, antelope and buffalo, as well as giraffe, rhino, lion and cheetah all living in the wild.

Award-winning Qatar Airways currently operates a modern fleet of 40 all-Airbus aircraft, which will almost double within a few years. Last week, Qatar Airways announced plans at the Paris Air Show to acquire up to 80 aircraft comprising 60 of the new generation A350s and 20 Boeing 777s worth a total US$15.2 billion.

The airline is one of the launch customers of the twin-deck A380 ‘super jumbos’ with four aircraft on order and scheduled for delivery from 2009 to coincide with the opening of the New Doha International Airport. Earlier this month, Qatar Airways retained its status as one of only a select-few Five Star-ranked airlines in the world by Skytrax, the independent aviation industry monitoring agency.

Skytrax also named Qatar Airways’ cabin crew as Best in the Middle East for the third year running and fifth best in the world following a survey of more than 12 million passengers worldwide, while the airline also maintained its position as among the world’s top 10 carriers.
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