Qatar Airways appears to have pipped its Gulf rivals to the post with a new Miami route.
The carrier will be launching a four times weekly non-stop service from Doha effective June 10, 2014. Miami will be Qatar's sixth US destination.
Flights will be operated by two-class B777-200LRs with fully flat bed seats in business class and nine across (3-3-3) seating in the economy cabin.
Flight QR777 will depart Doha at 0840 to reach Miami at 1720. It returns as QR778 out of Miami at 2115 and into Doha at 1820 the next day.
As well as Florida and the southern states, Miami is America's gateway to Latin America. So the new route will open up new areas of the world for Qatar Airways' passenger base located in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Membership of Oneworld will also enable Qatar's passengers to fly Doha-Miami non-stop and return via Europe with British Airways and American Airlines or vice versa.
Alex McWhirter