Qatar Airways Cargo has announced the expansion of its cargo network in the Asia Pacific with the recent launch of a twice-weekly Boeing 777 freighter service to Osaka, starting January 14. 

In a statement, Qatar said the Boeing 777 freighter will depart Doha on Tuesdays and Fridays each week, arriving in Osaka on the following day, and returning via Hong Kong.

Approximately 200 tonnes of cargo capacity will be offered each way per week, benefitting importers and exporters with increased capacity on the route.

This will also supplement the existing belly-hold cargo capacity to and from Japan, it added.

“2019 has been a great year for Qatar Airways Cargo and we are glad to start 2020 with the announcement of freighters to Osaka, a major financial centre in Japan. Japan is an important part of our network where we already operate daily passenger flights to both Haneda and Narita airports in the capital city, Tokyo. With direct flights to Osaka, our customers are offered dedicated freighter capacity for their cargo to and from Japan,” said Guillaume Halleux, Qatar Airways chief officer cargo.

The airline has a strong belly-hold presence in the Asia Pacific with 35 destinations served by the Qatar Airways passenger network and a freighter network of 10 destinations.

The new destination Osaka will increase the carrier’s freighter network in Asia Pacific to 11 destinations.

Qatar Airways Cargo also currently offers more than 250 tonnes of belly-hold cargo capacity each way to Haneda and Narita airports in Tokyo per week.

“The new freighters to Osaka will boost cargo capacity to over 450 tonnes weekly to and from Japan. General cargo, hi-tech goods, electronics, pharmaceuticals and perishables will form the majority of exports and imports on the route,” the statement noted.

Focusing on customer centricity, the cargo carrier is expanding its network globally. It recently announced a major expansion in South America with four new freighter destinations Campinas (Brazil), Santiago (Chile), Bogotá (Colombia) launching on 16th January 2020 and Lima (Peru) launching soon.

Five more Boeing 777 freighters will join its fleet from April 2020 onwards making it one of the largest freighter operators globally.

In its bid to further expand its network, Qatar Airways also recently announced eight additional destinations to join the airline’s network in 2020: Nur-Sultan (March) and Almaty (April), Kazakhstan; Cebu, Philippines (April); Accra, Ghana (April); Trabzon, Turkey (May); Luanda, Angola (October); Lyon, France (June) and Siem Reap, Cambodia (December).