The German Carrier, Lufthansa is planning to honour the inaugural flight from Doha to Frankfurt by inviting a VIP-delegation of representatives of Qatar state and the media to a familiarization trip. The guests will also visit Lufthansa Technik in Hamburg as part of the unveiling.
As of 10th January 2006, Lufthansa will be offering three weekly flights from Frankfurt to Doha, the capital of Qatar. The flight with a modern 221-seat Airbus A330 will depart Frankfurt each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 12.55 hrs local time. Following a brief stopover in Kuwait, the flight lands in Doha at 22.10 hrs local time, following a seven hour journey. The return flights on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays will leave Doha at 00.10 hrs and arrive in Frankfurt at 06.30 hrs in the morning.
Lufthansa is currently offering special fares from Qatar via Frankfurt to major destinations in the USA: New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington starting from 3.100 Qatari Riyals. Further US destinations on offer are Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Miami starting from 3.400 Riyals and Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland from 3.700 Riyals. In addition, Lufthansa’s ticket fare from Doha to all Lufthansa online destinations in Germany and Europe is starting from 2.150 Qatari Riyals. To avail the offer, tickets should be purchased at any Travel Agent in Doha or from Lufthansa between 20th December, 2005 and 10th January, 2006 and the travel period is from 11th – 31st January, 2006. All travel has to be completed before 15th March, 2006. Passengers travelling from January 10 – April 30, 2006 will be able to earn double miles when travelling either from Doha to Frankfurt vs. and from Doha to Kuwait vs. Passengers need to be members of the Miles & More frequent flyer programme.
Mr. Waseem Shaikh, Manager Passenger Sales, Qatar and Bahrain commented, “We are very glad to soon start Lufthansa operations from Doha, and trust this gives our market and Doha based passengers better connections worldwide. This also enables us to promote and participate in the growing economic activity between Germany and Doha. “
Lufthansa Systems also signed an agreement during the Dubai Airshow 2005 with Qatar airways to implement its future airline core environment and provide support for the introduction of electronic ticketing and numerous other IT processes.
Around 450,000 of the 800,000 inhabitants of Qatar live in the capital Doha. According to the criteria of the World Bank, the country is one of the ten richest nations in the World. This wealth is based mainly on the country’s natural gas reserves and the production, export and further processing of natural gas and oil. Qatar possesses the largest continuous natural gas reserves in the world.
With the inclusion of the flights to Doha, Lufthansa is consistently continuing its strategy of flights to the world’s oil markets. In addition to Doha, for example, the airline serves important oil markets like Houston/USA, Port Harcourt in Nigeria, Stavanger in Norway as well as Algiers und Tripoli in North Africa.
