Qatar Airways’ eagerly awaited arrival of its first A350 later this year was one step closer this week, as the first A350 aircraft bearing Qatar Airways livery took to the skies above the home of Airbus in Toulouse, while embarking upon a test flight. The latest test flights of the new A350 aircraft come after Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker, visited the home of Airbus in Toulouse last month to thank Airbus, on behalf of everyone at Qatar Airways, for their efforts in working to fulfil the airline’s ambitious A350 order, in line with its aggressive expansion plans.

Middle Eastern airlines have been on the ascendancy for over a decade. Brash newcomers seeking to disrupt a market dominated by legacy carriers notorious for high-costs and poor services. What better way to announce your arrival than through sponsorship deals? And what bigger stage than international football? With the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil just around the corner carriers are redoubling their efforts to be associated with the best teams in what is sure to be a bumper year.

Qatar Airways has welcomed the Airbus A350 XWB as it made its first-ever landing at Qatar’s state-of-the-art Hamad International Airport, before departing for its next stop, the Singapore Airshow. As the launch customer for the family of long-range, two-engined wide-body jet airliners, Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker welcomed Didier Evrard, executive vice president, Airbus A350 XWB Programme, and Phil Harris, senior vice president customer business, Rolls Royce, at the special event commemorating the inaugural landing.

Qatar Airways has added three additional flights per week between its hub in Doha and Khartoum, bringing the total number of services to Sudan to 17 weekly flights. Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker said the extra capacity would be a great boost as it would improve connections from Khartoum to over 130 destinations across the airline’s global network, offering passengers more choice with further convenience and flexibility to their travel plans.

Qatar Airways has touched down in down in Hangzhou, the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in eastern China. Hangzhou is the airline’s seventh route in China, and is preceded by Chengdu, which was introduced to the airline’s route network in September last year.

Qatar Airways is continuing its steady expansion plan for the coming year with the announcement of flights to Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus commencing April 29th 2014. The new route, which will fly four times a week to Larnaca, will be operated by an Airbus A320, configured in a two-class configuration with 12 seats in Business Class and 132 in Economy Class.