Qatar Airways will open a new route to Chengdu next month.
The thrice-weekly Doha to Chengdu service will be operated by an Airbus A330 in a two-class configuration of up to 36 seats in business and 248 in economy.
Chengdu will join Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Chongqing as Qatar Airways' sixth China destination when the route opens on September 3.
The new route marks the airline's tenth year of flights to China and begins just two weeks before British Airways is scheduled to launch its own thrice-weekly Chengdu service (see online news, December 2012).
Qatar Airways had originally scheduled its Chengdu route to begin in March, see online news, December 2012).
Akbar Al Baker, CEO of Qatar Airways, said: "The new service is part of the airline’s commitment to boost services to the Far East and Asia Pacific.
"China is one of our key markets and we are excited to further expand our footprint in China, allowing us to provide greater options for business and leisure travellers ready to take advantage of new flights to and from another entry point in China.
"We are pleased to introduce Chengdu as our sixth and newest China’s gateway and look forward to welcoming travellers from Chengdu to fly with us to many parts of the world and, similarly welcome visitors from around the world to this great city."
Chengdu is one of several new destinations that Qatar Airways is flying to over the next few months.
The carrier will fly to Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, on August 20; Addis Ababa on September 18; Clark International Airport, Philippines on October 27 and Philadelphia in April 2014.
Graham Smith
