DOHA: Qatar Airways’ first non-stop flight from Doha to Bodrum landed yesterday at Milas-Bodrum Airport, marking the airline’s sixth gateway in Turkey and third new Turkish route in just nine months. Qatar Airways flight QR 317, operated by an Airbus A320, departed Hamad International Airport at 7:15am and arrived at Milas-Bodrum Airport at 11:55am, where it was welcomed by a traditional water canon salute.

The airline will further expand its services to Turkey with the launch of seasonal flights to Antalya, Turkey today, just one day after the launch of direct flights to Bodrum.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: “Today’s inaugural flight to Bodrum, our third new Turkish route in just nine months, demonstrates our commitment to Turkey. We have seen very high demand for services to Turkey, as both business and leisure travellers show great interest in experiencing all this country has to offer”.

“We are tremendously excited to be able to provide passengers the opportunity to visit the beautiful resort city of Bodrum, just in time for the summer holiday season. Passengers from Bodrum now be able to travel seamlessly through our award-winning Doha Hub, Hamad International Airport (HIA), to any destination in our rapidly-expanding network,” he added.

Qatar Airways’ twice-weekly flights to Milas-Bodrum Airport will be operated by an Airbus A320, featuring 12 seats in Business Class and 132 seats in Economy Class. The seasonal service will be operated every Tuesday and Friday until 28 September 2018.

Qatar Airways now operates flights to six destinations in Turkey, with separate services to Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport (twice a day) and Istanbul Ataturk Airport (10 times a week), Adana Airport (three times a week), Hatay Airport (three times a week) and daily flights to Ankara. The award-winning airline launched direct services to Adana in September 2017 and to Hatay in February 2018.