Qatar Airways operated its first service to Australia on December 6, with the airline’s inaugural QR030 service arriving at Melbourne Tullamarine Airport at 2225 local time.
On board the maiden flight from Doha was the airline’s CEO Akbar Al-Baker, the Australian ambassador to Qatar and the UAE Doug Trappett, and members of the media.
“We have been eagerly planning our entry into the Australian market for several years – and we are delighted to finally arrive here in Melbourne,” said Al-Baker.
The first of the initially three times weekly services was operated by the airline’s latest Boeing 777-200LR, which was only delivered three weeks ago. The aircraft features 42 fully flat seats in a 2+2+2 arrangement in business class and 217 economy class seats in a 3+3+3 arrangement. The airline will boost its services on the route to daily from January 1 after it takes delivery of another 777-200LR, which is due during December.
Qatar is also planning to launch services to Sydney during 2010, but has not yet announced an expected start date or frequency.
