Qatar Airways ups flights to Bali

Prodita Sabarini, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar

Qatar Airways plans to fly daily from Doha to Denpasar next year to meet surging demand both from the Middle East and European travellers, a senior airline executive says.

Qatar Airways Far East & Australasia manager Marwan Koleilat said Monday that the airline was also exploring the possibility of establishing direct flights from the Qatari city to the capital of Bali province.

"We are also considering non-stop flights from Doha to Denpasar ," Koleilat told The Jakarta Post after opening Qatar Airways' Bali office.

Qatar Airways, which launched the Doha-Denpasar route in March this year, serves Bali four times a week via Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The service was opened following the success of the airline's Doha-Jakarta route, which was introduced in 2001. At present, the airline serves the route seven times a week via Singapore.

Bali Tourism Agency director Gede Nurjaya has stated on various occasions that the countries of the Middle East were emerging as flourishing markets for Balinese tourism.

He said that the opening of the Doha-Kuala Lumpur-Denpasar route had contributed to an increase in the number of tourists both from Europe and the Middle East.

According to BTA data, a total of 910,567 foreign tourists visited the island between January and July of this year, which represented a 35 percent increase over the corresponding period of last year.

Koleilat said that the plan to fly daily from Doha to Denpasar was due to the high level of demand from passengers. "The Doha-Kuala Lumpur-Denpasar route has a load factor of 90 percent," he said.

The route is served by Airbus A330-200 aircraft, based on a configuration of 22 business class and 259 economy seats, as well as an A330-300 aircraft with 30 business class and 275 economy seats.

Qatar Airways currently operates a modern fleet of 58 Airbus aircraft to 79 destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Far East, the Indian subcontinent and North America.

The highlight of Qatar Airways' 2007 expansion has been the launch of flights to New York (Newark) and Washington DC -- the airline's first move into the North American market.

From September 23, Qatar Airways has been flying twice weekly between Doha and the central Indian city of Nagpur. Starting November 27, the carrier will launch four flights a week to the Swedish capital Stockholm.

Daily scheduled services to the western Indian city of Ahmedabad are due to begin on December 12.

Qatar Airways has been one of the fastest growing carriers in the world, with unprecedented expansion averaging almost 40 percent year-on-year for the past decade.

The airline currently operates 58 aircraft, and by 2015 the fleet size is expected to double to more than 110 aircraft.