Qatar Airways Strengthens Ties with Oneworld Partner S7 Airlines

Doha, October 20 (QNA) - Qatar Airways and S7 Airlines have strengthened their relationship further with the launch of new codeshare arrangements between the two oneworld member airlines, further expanding travel opportunities for customers. Under the new relationship, Qatar Airways passengers travelling to Russia from its network will be able to connect onto domestic destinations such as Sochi, Chelyabinsk, Samara, Kazan, St. Petersburg, Omsk, Perm, Rostov, Yekaterinburg, Tyumen, along with Helsinki. Likewise, S7 Airlines customers will also be able to book from Russia to Phuket (Thailand) and Phnom Penh (Cambodia) via Doha. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said: "Alliances and codeshares are playing an increasingly important role in the airline industry today and that will continue long into the future. Becoming a member of oneworld last October was one of the most significant landmarks in Qatar Airways history. It has strengthened our competitive offering and the advent of these new codeshare routes with S7 Airlines, expanding travel options even further within our global alliance network." The new codeshare arrangement make connections simpler by allowing for a single carrier code booking across multiple flights, but there is the added benefit that members of the airlines frequent flyer programmes will be able to collect frequent flyer points on each others flights to their final destinations. The new codeshare, which came into place from Wednesday 8th October, comes at a time when Qatar Airways will soon celebrate its first anniversary as a oneworld member airline, having joined the prestigious global airline alliance on the 30th October 2013. Meanwhile, Qatar Airways Cargo today announced the launch of freighters to Stavanger in Norway, effective 3 November 2014. Stavanger will be served once a week by an Airbus A330F freighter, with the freighter making a stop at Brussels before heading to Stavanger Airport and then returning to Doha. "We are very excited to be the first carrier to operate scheduled freighters into the Norwegian energy capital of Stavanger. This new route will allow us to cater to the strong import and export demand in this city and will facilitate trade between the State of Qatar and Norway," Ulrich Ogiermann, Chief Officer Cargo at Qatar Airways said. "We already operate freighters to Oslo in Norway and are glad to introduce this new route, in line with our customers demands." Leif Anker Lorentzen, Airport Director Stavanger Airport, Sola, said: "As the oil and gas capital of Norway, and one of the worlds leading energy cities, we focus on improving our relations and our connectivity to the Middle East. The establishment of a new freight route by Qatar Airways Cargo between Stavanger to the worlds oil and gas regions, will enable us to create more valuable relationships and do better business in the future." Stavanger is known as the European oil and gas capital, with many of the major oil and gas companies and supplier companies having their Norwegian headquarters located in Stavanger. Other areas of activity and business include fishing, shipping, finance, culture, food and renewable energy. There is also great demand for Norwegian salmon worldwide, while imports include considerable quantities of motor vehicles and other transport equipment, raw materials, and industrial equipment. With the introduction of scheduled freighter services, Qatar Airways Cargo will provide air transportation to these growing industries through the Doha hub, to and from more than 140 destinations worldwide. The airline received its seventh Boeing 777 freighter on 2 October 2014, bringing up the total freighter fleet to 10. Given the increase in imports and exports to India, a third A330 freighter frequency will be added to the Doha-Delhi route, effective 30 October 2014, just months after the launch of the first freighter to Delhi on 4 May. Qatar Airways has seen rapid growth in just 17 years of operations, currently flying a modern fleet of 137 aircraft to more than 144 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and the Americas. (END)