Qatar Airways to Launch Cargo Services to Atlanta, Houston and Toronto

Qatar Airways’ cargo division is to begin scheduled dedicated freighter services to three North American destinations – Atlanta, Houston and Toronto.

The new North American services will be operated with Qatar Airways’ Boeing 777 freighters and will fly from the airline’s hub in Doha via Luxembourg.

Atlanta and Houston will be served with twice-weekly flights from 2 November 2011, while the Toronto services will begin five days later on 7 November 2011. In North America, Qatar Airways currently operates dedicated freighters only to Chicago.

The carrier also flies daily non-stop passenger services to Houston, New York and Washington, together with thrice-weekly flights to Montreal, offering sufficient cargo space in the belly of the aircraft.

Meanwhile, Qatar Airways’ passenger services to Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be supplemented with a weekly cargo flight, effective 30 October 2011.

In addition, extra cargo flights will operate to Chicago, Colombo, Bahrain, Dammam, Hong Kong and Tehran from 30 October 2011.

Over the past few months, Qatar Airways Cargo has significantly ramped up its expansion with increased frequencies and the order for a further three Boeing 777 freighters. Recent frequency increases have been implemented to Kuwait, Bengaluru, Kozhikode and Hanoi.

“With the recent completion of our 35% stake in Cargolux, Europe’s largest cargo airline, we have increased our focus on freighter operations, which ties seamlessly into the airline’s strategy to have as many connecting points across the globe from our Doha hub,” said Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Officer, Akbar Al Baker. “We have identified tremendous route expansion opportunities around the world, including North America where the freighter market is huge.”

Qatar Airways Cargo currently has a fleet of three Airbus A300-600s and two Boeing 777 freighters.

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