Shanghai, CHINA – Qatar Airways has stepped up frequency on the Doha – Shanghai route with the introduction of a fifth weekly scheduled flight.

Beginning today (June 26), Qatar Airways spreads its award-winning Five Star service to China with an early morning Monday flight from Doha, arriving in Shanghai in the afternoon, before returning to the Qatari capital in the early hours of Tuesday.

The capacity hike comes as the State of Qatar prepares to host the 15th Asian Games taking place at the end of the year in the capital, Doha. China is set to send the largest number of athletes to the sporting extravaganza.

As Official Partner of the Asian Games taking place this year between December 1 – 15, Qatar Airways’ increased presence in the China market will help promote the region’s biggest sporting event – the first time it is being staged in the Middle East.

The Doha – Shanghai flights operate non-stop using an Airbus A330-200 in a two-class configuration of Economy and Business Class. Passengers are able to benefit from the airline’s award-winning Five Star service and a fully interactive inflight audio and video entertainment system in both classes.

Strong business links between the Middle East and China – both the capital Beijing and commercial centre of Shanghai – have prompted Qatar Airways to increase capacity to one of the world’s fastest developing economies.

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said the Shanghai route had performed exceptionally well since its launch more than two years ago.

“China is one of the star performing economies in the world and Qatar Airways is pleased to be part of this success story and help facilitate traffic flow between Europe, Middle East and China’s key commercial hub,” he said.

“The new Shanghai flight will provide our passengers with greater choice, able to take advantage of a strengthened link between Qatar and China and the wide range of onward routes Qatar Airways serves from our Doha hub.

“Our passengers will be able to take advantage of our excellent connections over Doha to Europe, the GCC markets and rest of the Middle East.

“Together with our four flights a week to Beijing and daily services to our recently-launched new Hong Kong route, Qatar Airways is really becoming a key player in the Greater China market.”

Qatar Airways’ total capacity to Greater China has now been boosted to a total of 16 non-stop services from Doha – five to Shanghai, four to Beijing and daily to Hong Kong.

Added Al Baker: “Qatar Airways looks forward to welcoming the many thousands of athletes and spectators from China to the Asian Games in Doha and experience the hospitality of our people and our award-winning airline.”

Qatar Airways operates a modern fleet of 47 all-Airbus aircraft to 70 destinations from its hub in Doha, capital of the State of Qatar. Together with its codeshare partners, Qatar Airways serves more than 90 cities worldwide.

The airline’s fleet will more than double in size over the next 10 years to 110 aircraft. Qatar Airways plans to acquire up to 80 aircraft in orders worth US$16 billion over the next 10 years.

Qatar Airways is one of only four airlines in the world with a Five Star ranking for service and excellence awarded by Skytrax, the independent aviation industry monitoring agency. Skytrax has also increased Qatar Airways’ global ranking as sixth best airline in the world, and named the carrier’s cabin crew as Best in the Middle East for the fourth year running in 2006 and second best in the world.