The first Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, touched down at Cardiff Airport, where it was welcomed with a celebratory water cannon salute and greeted by the Mayor of the Vale of Glamorgan, Ms. Janice Charles. The new service will connect Cardiff to more than 150 business and leisure destinations worldwide.
On board the inaugural flight to Cardiff, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, was joined by Secretary of State for Wales, Mr. Alun Cairns, The First Minister of Wales, Mr. Carwyn Jones, the United Kingdom Ambassador to the State of Qatar, Mr. Ajay Sharma and Chairman of Cardiff Airport, Mr. Roger Lewis.
To celebrate this special occasion, the award-winning airline flew its ultra-modern Airbus A350-900 to Cardiff, providing VIP guests the opportunity to experience the state-of-the-art aircraft. This was the first time a commercial passenger Airbus A350-900 aircraft, whose wings are built by Airbus in Wales, has landed on Welsh soil. Going forward, Qatar Airways will operate its daily Cardiff service with a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which has a two-class configuration including 22 seats in Business Class offering passengers direct aisle access with its 1-2-1 configuration, as well as 232 seats in Economy Class.
The launch of the new route to Cardiff is Qatar Airways’ first-ever service to Wales, providing passengers enhanced connectivity to the Middle East, Asia and Australia, with seamless connections to Sydney, Hong Kong, China, Melbourne and many more attractive business and leisure destinations.
Qatar Airways currently serves London Heathrow, Manchester, Birmingham, and Edinburgh, with service to London Gatwick to commence on 22 May 2018.
The airline last month revealed a raft of forthcoming global destinations in line with its expedited expansion plans, including the announcement that Qatar Airways will be the first Gulf carrier to begin direct service to Luxembourg. Other exciting new destinations to be launched by the airline include Tallinn, Estonia; Valletta, Malta;Langkawi, Malaysia; Da Nang, Vietnam; Bodrum and Antalya, Turkey; Mykonos, Greece and Málaga, Spain.
Source: Qatar Airways