Qatar Airways has launched scheduled flights to the central Indian city of Nagpur, the airline’s seventh destination in India. Qatar Airways will operate twice-weekly flights between the two cities.

The Nagpur route is being operated with an Airbus A320 aircraft in a two-class configuration of 12 seats in Business Class and 132 in Economy.

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said the city was a welcome addition to the airline’s family of destinations across India. “Following on from our highly successful daily Mumbai flights, Nagpur will become Qatar Airways’ second gateway city in Maharashtra, giving our passengers greater choice,” he said.

“From Europe, Middle East, Africa and North America - Nagpurians have an ample number of cities on these Continents to choose from and I look forward to welcoming our new passengers on our award-winning Five Star service to Doha and beyond.”

Located in the State of Maharashtra, Nagpur has a population of over two million people, has a rich farming belt and is India’s orange-growing centre. Nagpur is an extremely resource-rich region of Maharashtra offering tremendous business opportunities as it is also one of India’s largest inland container transport hubs. A new economic zone and airport are being planned in the city.

With the growth of the Indian economy into a potential global powerhouse and Qatar’s drive to spread its economic wings, increasing air links between the two countries is of paramount importance to boost trade and commerce. Bilateral trade between India and Qatar has an estimated value of just US$1 billion, the majority represented by the export of $690m worth of Qatari liquid natural gas (LNG) to India.
——-