Qatar Airways to add fifth daily non-stop flight from Doha to Bangkok

Qatar Airways has announced plans to introduce a fifth daily non-stop flight from Doha to Bangkok.

The new service will begin from June 1, 2017.

Served by a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the new flight will provide an additional 254 seats to Bangkok per day including 22 business class seats and 232 economy class seats.

The new service will depart from Doha as QR826 at 5.40pm and arrive in Bangkok the next day at 4.25am. The return flight, QR827, will leave from the Thai capital at 5.55am and land in the Qatari capital at 8.25am.

The increased frequency, along with Qatar Airways’ double-daily Phuket flights and the four-times weekly flights to Krabi (started five months ago), will take the number of weekly flights between Thailand to Doha to 53.

The move comes after the airline signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to boost inbound tourism to Thailand.

Under the MoU, the two will put in place joint marketing strategies and practices to increase visibility to Thailand, a statement said.

Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said: “Boosting our Bangkok flight frequency to five daily flights is a significant commitment from us to the Thai market and testament to the strong year-round demand on this iconic Far East route.

“Bangkok has long been a hugely popular destination for both business and leisure travellers. The partnership with the Tourism Authority of Thailand allows us to jointly work together to attract more travellers from secondary cities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.”

For 2017, TAT has set a target of 34.5 million international visitors and some 1.81 trillion baht ($50bn) in international tourism receipts – a 10 per cent year-on-year increase.

TAT deputy governor for International Marketing – EMEA and Americas, Tanes Petsuwan said: “Partnering with Qatar Airways will open up additional access to markets.

“Qatar Airways’ fifth daily flight to Bangkok will provide more connections from Thailand’s key source markets in Europe such as United Kingdom, Italy and the Middle East,” he added.

Looking ahead, Qatar Airways also plans to begin flights to Chiang Mai, and will also open a premium lounge in Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport for first and business class passengers, the statement added.

Qatar Airways, which flies to 150 destinations worldwide, is rapidly growing its network. Earlier this week, Al Baker confirmed that the airline would add an additional 12 routes to the 14 already planned for 2017- 2018.

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