/More flights to Doha

QATAR Airways will be flying between Manchester and Doha three times a day from next Spring.

The middle eastern airline currently operates 16 flights per week between the two cities.

Triple daily flights already operate on Mondays and Saturdays, as well as double daily flights on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays.

Now they are set to introduce a third daily flight on Tuesdays and Thursdays come September, and by next May there will be three flights every day.

Qatar Airways connects Manchester’s passengers to more than 150 destinations around the world including across Asia, Africa, Australia and New Zealand and celebrated its 15th anniversary of operating direct flights from the UK’s third largest airport in April this year.

Qatar Airways acting senior vice president Europe, Ishfaq Jalal said: “Qatar Airways enjoys a special relationship with Manchester as demonstrated by the everincreasing amount of tourist and business traffic passing between our countries and through Doha to our global network. We remain committed to providing the levels of service quality and in-flight experience that has increased the demand for our airline.”

Julian Carr, aviation director for Manchester Airport, said: “We’re delighted to see Qatar Airways continue to grow at Manchester Airport.

“They’re a hugely popular airline with the 22 million people in our catchment area. Since they started 15 years ago they’ve gone from four flights a week to the three a day they will operate from next May.”

The flights from Manchester will be operated using a mix of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350.

The Airbus A350-900 aircraft features a total of 283 seats, with 36 Business class seats and 247 in Economy Class.