Qatar Airways signs MoU with capital of China's Sichuan province

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker, and Chairman of Qatar Tourism Authority Engineer Issa Al Mohannadi met with a delegation from the 'Chengdu Culture and Tourism Development Group' and signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the two organisations.
Group Chief Executive of Qatar Airways Akbar Al Baker said: "Chengdu offers strong cultural and economic opportunities to passengers on our network and I am delighted to have had the opportunity this year to meet with the Mayor of Chengdhu, Ge Honglin, and just this week Yang Chai, Vice-General Manager of the Chengdu Culture and Tourism Development Group." Designed to strengthen ties between Qatar Airways and the tourism authorities in Chengdu, one of Qatar Airways seven gateways across China - including Hong Kong - the Memorandum of Understanding will integrate the resources of both representative parties to promote and strengthen the benefits of the connectivity that the route provides, together with the tourism and cultural highlights of Chengdu, to passengers flying on the Qatar Airways network.
The meeting this week in Doha follows a successful trip to China in April this year where Akbar Al Baker met with the Mayor of Chengdu Ge Honglin further building the strong ties that exist between the airline and China.
The airline, which has provided its signature five-star service to the Chinese market for over 10 years, commenced its first flight to Shanghai in 2003, and now has the largest route network across China of any Middle-Eastern carrier, serving the cities of Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Hong Kong.
"Qatar Airways has progressively developed our operations in China for over 10 years, connecting passengers through a variety of gateways to our new global hub and home, Hamad International Airport.
"The signing of this Memorandum of Understanding with the Chengdu Culture and Tourism Development Group strengthens our connectivity and ties with China, and in particular highlights not only our own recent route launch to Chengdu in 2013, but Chengdu itself as a tourist destination," remarked Al Baker.
Qatar Airways launched two routes in the second half of 2013 to Chengdu and Hangzhou flying directly from its hub in Doha, the State of Qatar, and now flies to seven gateways across the country (including Hong Kong) to meet the strong and growing demand from passengers in the region.
Qatar Airways has seen rapid growth in just 17 years of operation, to the point where today it is flying a modern fleet of 141 aircraft to 145 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America.