Qatar Airways adds first route to Portugal

Qatar Airways, in its latest expansion effort, touched down its first passenger flight at Lisbon Airport (LIS) in Portugal today. 

The new daily direct flight between Doha (DOH) and LIS, operated using Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, is offering 70 tonnes of cargo capacity to and from Portugal per week and includes direct connections to Europe, the Middle East and the Americas, the carrier said in a statement today. 

The company also pointed out that it’s already built a strong presence in Spain, which neighbors Portugal, with 47 weekly passenger flights to Barcelona (BCN) and Madrid (MAD) offering belly hold cargo space, as well as seasonal flights to Malaga (AGP) each week. Qatar Airways Cargo also offers more than 950 tonnes of cargo capacity in flights to Zaragoza (ZAZ) in Spain, with 10 weekly 777 and A330 freighter flights. 

The airline plans on adding three trans-Pacific connections to its network following a commitment to order five 777 freighters last week, from Hanoi (HAN) to Dallas (DFW); Chicago (ORD) to Singapore (SIN); and Singapore (SIN) to Mexico City (MEX) via Los Angeles (LAX). It also launched flights to Turkey, Morocco, Malta and the Philippines earlier this year, and the airline plans to continue its growth with two more routes to Somalia and Malaysia.