www.allafrica.com In response to the growing popularity of Qatar Airways' daily flights between Dar es Salaam and Doha, the airline has opened spacious new offices in the Elia Complex at the junction of Zanaki and Bibititi roads in the Tanzanian capital.

Qatar Airways launched the Tanzania route last January to provide air travellers with convenient connections through Doha to a network of over 80 destinations worldwide.

Initially, there were four flights each week, with an Airbus A319 aircraft carrying 110 passengers.

To cope with increasing demand for travel to Doha and beyond, daily services were introduced just two months later, in March last year.

The airline was given a five star ranking by the industry audit Skytrax. Qatar recently unveiled its 2008 expansion programme with capacity increases to numerous destinations across its global network and the launch of its fourth destination in China - the southern industrial port city of Guangzhou.

The addition of Guangzhou strengthens the airline's China network, it already flies to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, with a total of 16 flights a week.

Guangzhou takes the airline's capacity into China up to 20 flights a week, rising to 21 with the addition of a fifth weekly service to Guangzhou from May 1.

Guangzhou and nearby Hong Kong provide excellent twin-centre options.

With connections from Europe, Middle East and Africa to and from Guangzhou, Qatar is boosting its presence in one of the fastest growing economies of the world. The new services will ease transport as Guangzhou is set to host the next Asian Games in 2010.

From London's Heathrow and Milan in Europe, to Johannesburg and Lagos in Africa, to Seoul and Islamabad in Asia, together with further expansion on the New York (Newark) route, Qatar Airways has a busy year ahead.

Expansion highlights include an extra daily flight to London's Heathrow, taking capacity to Britain's busiest airport up to four flights a day; Beirut rising to two daily flights; and both Johannesburg and Seoul going up to daily.

Between Qatar and Germany, the airline operates 24 flights a week - 10 to Frankfurt and daily to both Berlin and Munich.

The airline looks forward to opening up further destinations in Germany over the next few years as part of its growth strategy to widen its presence in the German market.

From June 15, Qatar plans to operate scheduled flights to the south Indian coastal city of Kozhikode, the airline's third gateway in the state of Kerala.