Qatar Airways has taken another key step to expand operations in Eastern Europe by increasing capacity on its recently-introduced Doha – Budapest route to daily non-stop scheduled services. Effective September 14, 2011 the route will be upgraded with three additional flights from the current four-flights-a-week. The service, currently operating via Bucharest, will be de-linked from the Romanian capital. The airline is operating an A320 aircraft, featuring 12 seats in Business Class and 132 in Economy on the Budapest route.

As per the company release, the latest move is part of an expansion in Eastern Europe where the Doha-based airline recently announced it is boosting online operations by launching four weekly flights to Bulgaria’s capital city of Sofia, also from September 14, 2011. The Sofia route will be operated via Bucharest.Qatar Airways began flights to Hungary’s capital city of Budapest in January, this year and the response from the travelling public has prompted the decision to upgrade the route within months of the launch.

Akbar Al Baker, Chief Executive Officer, Qatar Airways said, “We have seen strong inbound and outbound demand for our Hungarian service since our launch over two months ago. Forecasts look extremely positive, so we couldn’t hold back but to increase capacity pending aircraft availability to daily non-stop from September offering more choice and greater convenience to our valued customers.He added that the Budapest route had created new connections between the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific for passenger traffic in and out of Hungary via the airline’s Doha hub.

Europe has been the focus of Qatar Airways’ recent expansion. Since January 2011, the airline has added not only Budapest and Bucharest to its international route portfolio, but also Brussels and Stuttgart.On June 15, 2011 Venice will become the carrier’s third Italian gateway and besides Sofia, Qatar Airways will also spread its wings to Norway’s capital city of Oslo on October 5, 2011. In addition, the airline will commence flights to the Iranian city of Shiraz on June 5, 2011 to Montreal in Canada on June 29, 2011 and Kolkata  on July 27, 2011.

In addition, the airline’s frequent flyer loyalty programme Privilege Club is offering members bonus Qmiles and a special discount on award tickets redeemed at qmiles.com. For Qatar Airways’ QNB co-branded credit card holders, bonus Qmiles are on offer.Qatar Airways’ Doha hub feeds passenger and cargo traffic across the world, offering convenient connections to Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America. By 2013, Qatar Airways plans to serve more than 120 key business and leisure destinations worldwide with a modern fleet of over 120 aircraft. Today, the airline’s fleet stands at 97 aircraft flying to 99 diverse cities worldwide.