Qatar Airways' CEO Akbar Al Baker has confirmed a date for the opening of the carrier's dedicated lounge at London Heathrow T4.
Speaking with Business Traveller in Chongqing, Qatar Airways' 15th and final route launch of 2011, Mr Al Baker said that the lounge was nearing completion, and would officially open on January 23, 2012.
The intention is to see how the lounge copes, and then possibly sell any spare capacity to another carrier departing from the terminal.
Qatar recently announced a fifth daily flight will commence from Heathrow in March next year, though Mr Al Baker pointed out this was only returning Qatar to its position at the beginning of the year when it had a daily flight out of Gatwick (see online news March 1).
In other news, Mr Al Baker confirmed nine route launches for 2012, and spoke of the possibility of as many as 15 as well as frequency increases. The new routes already announced are...
- Baku, Azerbaijan (February 1)
- Tbilisi, Georgia (February 1)
Dates in 2012 to be confirmed:
- Perth, Australia
- Helsinki, Finland
- Zagreb, Croatia
- Zanzibar, Tanzania
- Kigali, Rwanda
- Mombasa, Kenya
- Gassim, Saudi Arabia
For more information visit qatarairways.com.
Report by Tom Otley
