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www.qatarairways.com Qatar Airways has taken its award-winning Five Star service to a third destination in Egypt with the launch of scheduled flights to the port city of Alexandria.
On departure from Doha International Airport, the airline celebrated the new route with a cake-cutting ceremony, attended by Qatar Airways Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker and Egyptian Ambassador to Qatar, His Excellency Mohamed Ahdy Khairat.
Qatar Airways General Manager Commercial, Mohamed Saleh Fakhri headed up the airline’s delegation of regional media representatives on the inaugural service.
Alexandria is being served non-stop three-times-a-week from Qatar Airways’ operational hub of Doha, capital of the State of Qatar. The route is operated with an Airbus A320 in a two-class configuration of 12 seats in First and 132 in Economy.
The city, one of the oldest in Egypt, becomes Qatar Airways’ third Egyptian point to be served from Doha, following successful route launches of Cairo and Luxor.
Alexandria is the 64th destination on the airline’s rapidly-growing global network from its Doha hub and the second of three new routes of Qatar Airways’ summer 2005 flying programme.
Flights to Mashad in Iran were launched on June 1, while the Greek capital, Athens, comes on line on June 15.
To celebrate the new routes, Qatar Airways is offering members of its Privilege Club frequent flyer programme with double Qmiles for the first full month of the flights.
As part of its new Egyptian service, Qatar Airways is also offering a complimentary coach transfer service for passengers between Alexandria and Cairo.
Known as the ‘Pearl of the Mediterranean’, Alexandria is Egypt’s second largest city and main port with an ambience and cultural heritage far different to rest of the country which has more of a Middle East flavour. The city is located around 160 miles from the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
Alexandria is one of the most notable summer resorts in the Middle East and also home to the ancient relics of the underwater city of Cleopatra’s Palace.
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker expressed delight at the expansion of services in Egypt. He said by adding Alexandria, it demonstrated Qatar Airways’ commitment to the Egyptian market.
Founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC, “Cairo and Luxor have proved to be highly successful for Qatar Airways attracting both business and leisure travellers.
“So it was only natural to expand our business in Egypt by adding Alexandria as our third point in the country and serve the growing needs of our passengers. Many of our passengers will be travelling from neighbouring Middle East markets to Egypt, but also from our destinations across Asia and in South Africa,” added Al Baker.
“Alexandria is the second of our three new routes this month as we launched Mashad in Iran on June 1 and Athens becomes our next addition on June 15 in line with our expansion plans. These three new routes alone will take our global network to 65 destinations worldwide.”
Award-winning Qatar Airways currently operates a modern fleet of 40 all-Airbus aircraft to 64 destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Indian sub-continent and the Far East. By the end of 2005, the airline plans to serve at least 70 destinations.
Qatar Airways’ fleet will almost double within a few years thanks largely to a $5.1bn order for 34 additional Airbus aircraft signed in 2003. The airline is one of the launch customers of the twin-deck A380 ‘super jumbos’ with four aircraft on order and scheduled for delivery from 2009 to coincide with the opening of the New Doha International Airport.
Qatar Airways is one of only four airlines in the world to be ranked a Five Star carrier for excellent service and high standards by Skytrax.
Skytrax also ranked Qatar Airways’ cabin crew as the best in the Middle East in 2005 for the third year running and fifth best in the world following a survey of more than 12 million passengers worldwide. | 
