Qatar Airways Expands South America Connectivity

DOHA, Qatar – Qatar Airways is pleased to announce it has increased São Paulo services to 10 weekly flights and expanded codeshare cooperation with LATAM Airlines Brasil optimising connectivity for both airline’s passengers to and from destinations in Asia, the Middle East and South America. The new codeshare agreement will further strengthen the two airlines’ strategic partnership, first initiated in 2016 and recently expanded in June 2019.

The expanded agreement will allow Qatar Airways passengers to book travel on 45 additional LATAM Airlines Brasil flights and to access over 40 domestic and international destinations on the South American carrier’s network, including Brasilia, Curitiba, Porto Velho, Rio Branco, Rio de Janeiro, San Jose, Lima (Peru), Montevido (Uruguay) and Santiago (Chile).

LATAM Airlines Brasil passengers will also benefit from access to the recently expanded 10 weekly flights to and from Sao Paulo, operated by Qatar Airways’ state-of-the-art Airbus A350-1000 that features the World’s Best Business Class Seat, Qsuite. LATAM Airlines Brasil passengers will also be able to book travel to eight additional Qatar Airways’ destinations such as Bangkok*, Hong Kong*, Maldives, Nairobi, Seoul* and Tokyo* along with additional Qatar Airways’ connecting flights to destinations such as Baku, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

With an existing loyalty cooperation, frequent fliers with both airlines are also able to earn and redeem miles for travel across the partners’ complete network as well as recognition of their tier status at select airports with benefits such as priority check-in and priority boarding.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “South America is a strategically important market for Qatar Airways. We are proud to demonstrate our strong commitment to passengers travelling to and from South America by providing even more flexible travel options. By increasing São Paulo services to 10 weekly flights and expanding our codeshare agreement with LATAM Airlines Brasil, we will further cement our position as the airline of choice for customers travelling between Asia, the Middle East and South America.

“Since 2016, both Qatar Airways and LATAM Airlines Brasil have witnessed the significant mutual benefits commercial cooperation have brought, providing our passengers with unrivalled service and seamless connectivity and it is why our codeshare cooperation has been expanded twice in recent years. We look forward to further strengthening our commercial cooperation with LATAM Airlines Brasil to enhance the travel experience for our millions of customers.”

LATAM Brasil CEO, Mr. Jerome Cadier, said: “We are expanding connectivity and the choice of destinations for our customers. Even in a year as difficult as 2020, we are committed to offering our passengers more options to travel further with greater convenience and simplicity.”

In May 2020, Qatar Airways’ most technologically advanced passenger aircraft, the A350-1000, arrived to São Paulo International Airport (GRU). The award-winning airline is the first to fly this revolutionary aircraft to South America. One of the latest additions to the Airbus family of twin-aisle, wide-body jetliners, the A350-1000 offers 327 seats across two cabins – 46 Qsuite Business Class seats and 281 extra-wide 18-inch seats in Economy Class. Similar to the A350-900 – for which Qatar Airways was also the global launch customer – the high-performance A350-1000 boasts an advanced airframe with extensive use of composite materials. Coupled with a fuselage innovatively built with carbon-fiber reinforced plastic, the jetliner burns lesser fuel, reducing harmful effects to the environment. On the inside, LED mood lighting mimics a natural sunrise and sunset to help reduce the effects of jet lag.

Qatar Airways strategic investment in a variety of fuel-efficient twin-engine aircraft, including the largest fleet of Airbus A350 aircraft, has enabled it to continue flying throughout this crisis and perfectly positions it to lead the sustainable recovery of international travel. The airline’s recently delivery of new state-of-the-art Airbus A350-1000 aircraft has increased its total A350 fleet to 53 with an average age of just 2.7 years. Due to COVID-19’s impact on travel demand, the airline has grounded its fleet of Airbus A380 as it is not environmentally justifiable to operate such a large, four-engine aircraft in the current market. Qatar Airways has also recently launched a new programme that enables passengers to voluntarily offset the carbon emissions associated with their journey at the point of booking.

The national carrier of the State of Qatar continues to rebuild its network, which currently stands at over 110 destinations with plans to increase to 129 by the end of March 2021. A multiple award-winning airline, Qatar Airways was named ‘World’s Best Airline’ by the 2019 World Airline Awards, managed by Skytrax. It was also named ‘Best Airline in the Middle East’, ‘World’s Best Business Class’, and ‘Best Business Class Seat’, in recognition of its ground-breaking Business Class experience, Qsuite. It is the only airline to have been awarded the coveted ‘Skytrax Airline of the Year’ title, which is recognised as the pinnacle of excellence in the airline industry, five times.

Hamad International Airport (HIA), the airline’s home and hub, was recently ranked 'Third Best Airport in the World', among 550 airports worldwide, by the SKYTRAX World Airport Awards 2020. Rising from fourth position in 2019 to third in 2020, HIA has been steadily rising in the ‘World's Best Airports’ rankings since the start of its operations in 2014. In addition, HIA was voted the ‘Best Airport in the Middle East’ for the sixth year in a row and ‘Best Staff Service in the Middle East’ for the fifth year in a row.

*Subject to regulatory approval