Qatar Airways eyes major US expansion

Qatar Airways intends to nearly double its footprint in the United States with three new destinations, its CEO has said. Akbar Al Baker was quoted as saying that the airline is targeting new launches in Detroit, Boston and Atlanta.

In comments published by USA Today, Al Baker declined to give a timetable for the new destinations but added: “It will be soon, because we have plans for 15 to 16 destinations in our network next year.” Qatar Airways currently from its Doha hub to New York JFK, Washington Dulles and Houston Bush Intercontinental. The carrier has also announced it will begin flying to Chicago O’Hare in April. 

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Speaking to journalists in Washington, DC, he also said he was not worried about the state of affairs at American Airlines, one of the key carrier in the Oneworld alliance that Qatar Airways joined earlier this month.

“I think it is just a restructuring of the cost base,” Al Baker said of the US airline’s decision to file for bankruptcy protection. “They should have done it a long time ago. But they are a very resilient airline. I am sure that my friend (and American CEO) Tom Horton is going to do a very good job in reshaping American for the next decades,” he told USA Today.

source: Arabian Business