Qatar Airways has announced a further expansion of its international route network with Uganda, Azerbaijan and Georgia joining its ever-growing list of countries served direct from the airline's Doha hub.

Daily non-stop scheduled flights to Uganda's second largest city of Entebbe are due to begin on November 2, marking the carrier's first new route to the African continent since early 2007. Four weeks later, effective November 30, Qatar Airways expands into Central Asia introducing daily non-stop flights to Baku which continue onto Tbilisi, the capital cities of Azerbaijan and Georgia respectively.

The announcement comes as the Doha-based carrier prepares for a busy few months ahead with the launch of scheduled flights to Shiraz, Venice and Montreal in June; Kolkata (Calcutta) in July; Sofia in September and Oslo in October. Unveiling the expansion plans in Dubai, Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said the new routes further demonstrated the airline's ambitious strategy to continue opening up new routes to popular and underserved markets. 

Uganda is fast emerging as a regional trading centre with links to Europe and the Far East, but has limited international air services - a void Qatar Airways is set to fill with its huge international network of routes via its Doha base. 

Qatar Airways will be the only full-service Gulf carrier flying to the oil-rich city of Baku, becoming a natural fit for the airline linking up with the State of Qatar, the energy capital of the Middle East. Baku's largest industry is petroleum. Located on the Caspian Sea, the walled city of Baku has been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. 

Tbilisi is a significant industrial, social and cultural hub, emerging as an important transit route for global energy and trade projects and located strategically at the crossroads between Europe and Asia lying along the historic Silk Road routes. 

The three newest routes will be operated with Airbus A320 aircraft in a two-class configuration of 12 seats in Business Class and 132 in Economy. 

Addressing a press conference in Dubai on the opening day of Arabian Travel Market (ATM), the Middle East's premier travel trade show, Al Baker said Uganda, Azerbaijan and Georgia were markets largely underserved by international carriers. "But there is clearly demand and huge potential and, as a network global carrier, we are able to fulfil the needs of the travelling public from these three countries and for those wanting to travel there from markets we serve around the world. 

"Qatar Airways already has a successful operation to the Russian capital Moscow. Expanding our presence deeper into Central Asia has been a focus of ours for some time so it is with extreme delight to be able to announce we will soon have new routes to add in this part of the world. 

"And we are pleased to be reinforcing our presence in Africa, four years after our last move there when we launched flights to Tanzania's capital city of Dar es Salaam. Adding Entebbe provides us with another foothold deeper into the African continent, where we already serve 15 destinations. We are confident this route start-up will be as successful as the others being planned." 

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