File photo of Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways, as part of its 2010 global expansion programme, launched scheduled flights to Bengaluru (Bangalore) to cater to the travelers in the southern city. Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka, becomes the first of several new route launches being planned by Qatar Airways during 2010, said the airlines’ release. On the Doha–Bengaluru route, Qatar Airways is operating an Airbus A320 in a two-class configuration of 12 seats in Business Class and 132 in Economy.

With the launch of daily flights to Bangalore, Qatar Airways’ Indian capacity is added up to 71 services a week spread across 11 key points – Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram), Cochin, Kozhikode, Goa and Amritsar.

With excellent connections from Europe, Middle East, Africa and the United States, the new Bangalore-Doha route is expected to be popular among expatriates returning to Bengaluru and the international business community having strong commercial links with the city.

Qatar Airways chief executive officer Akbar Al Baker said it was only a matter of time before Bengaluru became part of the carrier’s expanding family of routes in India which he described as “one of the airline’s most strategic markets.”  “I am delighted that Bengaluru has finally joined our rapidly growing international network, which further demonstrates our commitment to give the travelling public greater choice,” he said.

Bengaluru has been at the heart of India’s software industry for years, enabling it to capitalise on establishing commercial and social ties with cities around the world, including its US west coast counterpart, San Francisco.

Al Baker further said, “These are exciting times for Qatar Airways. With our first new route of 2010 successfully launched, we look forward to further global expansion to some exciting destinations over the next few weeks and months. Watch this space for announcements of further expansion that will include new routes and capacity increases to many destinations worldwide.”

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