Qatar Airways will now operate 28 weekly flights across Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg.
The airline increased frequencies to the following destinations:
Cape Town (increasing to seven weekly flights from 1 March)
Durban (increased to three weekly flights from 14 February)
Johannesburg (increased to 18 weekly flights from 26 January)
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive His Excellency Mr Akbar Al Baker, said: ‘We are proud to be the leading international carrier connecting South Africa with Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and the U.S., offering more flexible travel options and a global network of flights that passengers, trade and business partners can rely on.
‘South Africa has always been a very important market to us and we continue to demonstrate our commitment to the region by adding new routes and steadily increasing frequencies across the continent. As global travel recovers in 2021, we look forward to further expanding our network and offering more connections to and from Africa via the Best Airport in the Middle East, Hamad International Airport, to our global network of over 120 destinations.’
The national carrier of the State of Qatar’s network currently stands at over 120 destinations with plans to increase to over 130 by the end of March 2021.
South African Tourism CEO, Sisa Ntshona, said: ‘We are delighted at the confidence shown by Qatar Airways by increasing its air capacity to South Africa in these challenging times. This certainly demonstrates to the world that South Africa has put the necessary measures in place to ensure that it is safe for travel in the Covid-19 environment.
‘Air Access is important for South Africa, as we to look to recover post-COVID and Qatar Airways has an extensive global network that links travellers via DOHA from our source markets. As we embark on our tourism recovery strategy, having airlines such as Qatar Airways play a supporting role by increasing its capacity will go a long way in assisting us regain the international arrival numbers.’
Qatar Airways has become the first global airline in the world to achieve the prestigious 5-Star COVID-19 Airline Safety Rating by international air transport rating organisation, Skytrax. This follows HIA’s recent success as the first airport in the Middle East and Asia to be awarded a Skytrax 5-Star COVID-19 Airport Safety Rating. For full details of all the measures that have been implemented on board and in HIA, please visit qatarairways.com/safety.
Qatar Airways offers unlimited date changes and fee-free refunds for all tickets issued before 30 April 2021, for travel completed by 31 December 2021. The carrier’s industry-leading flexible booking policy also provides the permanent feature of exchanging tickets for a travel voucher with 10% additional value for all customers booking travel via qatarairways.com. For full terms and conditions visit qatarairways.com/Flexibility.
Picture: Getaway gallery
