Qatar Airways Cargo said it reintroduced flights to Haneda, Nice, Manama and Sarajevo while continuing to expand its Middle East operations.

The cargo carrier also relaunched services to Tokyo's Haneda Airport last week.

 Photo: Qatar Airways Cargo

In the announcement, Qatar Airways Cargo said the reintroduced passenger flights bring the total weekly tonnage available to and from Japan to 600 tonnes each way, as it noted that general cargo makes up for the vast majority of exports from Tokyo, followed by vulnerable cargo and dangerous goods.

As for imports, they consist of general cargo, fish, seafood, fruits and vegetables.

From May 30, the carrier also commenced four weekly passenger Airbus A320 flights from Doha to Sarajevo with six tonnes of weekly cargo capacity.

Commodities mainly consist of general cargo and also include vulnerable cargo and pharmaceuticals.

Increased Europe services

The carrier also relaunched passenger flights to Nice earlier on May 9 with exports comprising of general cargo, dangerous goods, and pharmaceuticals, while on the imports front, general cargo, dangerous goods, vulnerable cargo and other types of cargo are flown into Nice.

With freighters to Lyon and Paris and belly-hold flights to Nice and Paris, the cargo carrier's weekly cargo capacity to and from France increases to 1,100 tonnes each way.

Daily flights to Bahrain started on May 25, providing cargo customers with 11 tonnes of cargo space on the A320 passenger flights each week, each way.

In addition, Qatar Airways Cargo has also expanded its network in the Middle East, effective May.

The airline introduced two Boeing 777 freighters to Dammam, bringing the weekly tonnage to 350 tonnes each way.

A new freighter frequency was also introduced to Riyadh, bringing the total frequencies to five Boeing 777 freighters each week on top of the quadruple daily passenger flights, providing over 850 tonnes of cargo capacity each way to and from Riyadh. 

"Customer-centricity has always been at the core of our business. Through such expansions, reintroductions, and capacity increases via our Next Generation strategy and VISION 2027, we are bringing enhancements to our services and operations globally," said Guillaume Halleux, chief officer of Cargo at Qatar Airways.

"The relaunch of flights to these destinations, as well as the increased frequencies, offer our customers the direct and increased capacity to these destinations," he added.

Qatar Airways Cargo noted that it recently launched its first hub in Kigali in partnership with Rwandair, where customers of both airlines benefit from enhanced service levels, cost synergies and a reliable intra-African network through Kigali.