Qatar Airways today unveiled the launch date of its newest Indian destination with daily non-stop scheduled flights between Doha and Bengaluru (Bangalore) beginning on February 22.

The vibrant southern Indian city – dubbed as India’s Silicon Valley, being home to the country’s largest IT software industry – becomes the airline’s 11th destination in India and first new route of 2010.

Commonly referred to as Bangalore, the city is also home to some of the country’s most affluent colleges and research institutions with numerous public sector companies across the aerospace, telecommunications and defence industries.

With excellent flight connections from Europe, United States, Africa and the Middle East, the new route is expected be popular among friends and family returning to Bengaluru, as well as the international business community with strong commercial links to the city.

Whether flying to London, Paris, Rome, Frankfurt, Geneva, Nairobi, Dubai, Muscat, New York, Washington or Houston, Qatar Airways offers excellent short connections to such diverse cities.

The airline also provides convenient connections to many destinations across the United States, including Bengaluru’s sister city of San Francisco, through code share flights operated by partner carrier United Airlines.

To celebrate the new route, Qatar Airways is introducing launch fares from key international markets to Bengaluru. The airline kicks off its promotional activities this week with a print and radio media campaign across the southern Indian state of Karnataka, of which Bengaluru is the capital city.

In addition, depending on the country of origin, members of Qatar Airways Privilege Club will earn up to 28,000 bonus Qmiles when they fly the new Bengaluru route.  For more details on the offer, visit www.qmiles.com.

With the addition of Bengaluru, Qatar Airways’ Indian capacity will rise to 71 flights a week spread across 11 cities. These include Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Trivandrum, Cochin, Kozhikode, and recently introduced Goa and Amritsar.

The Doha – Bengaluru route will be operated by an Airbus A320, featuring 12 seats in Business Class and 132 in Economy.

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said the new route demonstrated the airline’s ongoing commitment to the Indian market.

“2010 is going to be yet another exciting year for Qatar Airways and I am delighted that India will once again figure prominently in our expansion plans with the launch of Bengaluru from February 22 to further strengthen our operations in the country.

“Having recently launched flights to Goa and Amritsar, our new Bengaluru flights will provide even more choice for holidaymakers to India, but also provide a strategic air link for IT companies in and around Bengaluru with rest of the world.”