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Qatar Airways has finalized a codeshare agreement with Air Canada applicable to travel between Doha and Toronto.
Sales have begun with the first codeshare flight operating on December 15, 2020. The agreement reinforces Qatar Airways’ long-term commitment to Canadian passengers and to driving Canada’s global connectivity to support the recovery of tourism and trade.
Qatar Airways passengers can now enjoy seamless and comprehensive connections to and from Toronto via the best airport in the Middle East, Hamad International Airport. Air Canada passengers will benefit from being able to book travel on Qatar Airways flights between Toronto and Doha and onward to more than 75 destinations in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Executive Director of the Qatar Airways Group, H.E. Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “We are delighted to secure this strategic codeshare agreement with Air Canada to provide our travelers with a seamless journey to and from Toronto with excellence in state-of-the-art and sustainable aircraft, safety, comfort and service on board. The agreement will increase options for thousands of passengers and allow seamless connectivity to a significant number of new destinations, particularly in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. By leveraging our complementary strengths, this agreement will also provide benefits to aid the recovery of international travel. ”
Qatar Airways began flying to Canada in June 2011 with three weekly flights to Montreal that were expanded to four weekly in December 2018. The airline has worked closely with the Government of Canada and its embassies around the world during the pandemic. , temporarily operating three weekly services to Toronto, in addition to charter flights to Vancouver to help bring more than 40,000 passengers home to Canada.
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 during this crisis and is perfectly positioned to lead the sustainable recovery of international travel. The airline recently received three new state-of-the-art Airbus A350-1000 aircraft, increasing its total fleet from A350s to 52 with an average age of just 2.6 years. Due to the impact of COVID-19 on travel demand, the airline has grounded its Airbus A380 fleet as it is not environmentally justifiable to operate such a large four-engine aircraft in today’s market. Qatar Airways has also recently launched a new program that allows passengers to voluntarily offset the carbon emissions associated with their trip at the time of booking.
At the end of the IATA winter season, Qatar Airways plans to rebuild its network to 126 destinations, including 20 in Africa, 11 in the Americas, 42 in Asia-Pacific, 38 in Europe and 15 in the Middle East. Many cities will receive services with a solid schedule with daily frequencies or more.
Qatar Airways, a multi-award winning airline, was named ‘World’s Best Airline’ by the 2019 World Airline Awards, administered 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 innovative Business Class expertise, Qsuite. The Qsuite seating layout is a 1-2-1 configuration, providing passengers with the most spacious, completely private, comfortable and social Business Class product in the sky. It is the only airline to have been awarded the coveted title of ‘Skytrax Airline of the Year’, which is recognized as the pinnacle of excellence in the airline industry, five times.
Air Canada is Canada’s largest national and international airline. Canada’s flag carrier is among the 20 largest airlines in the world and in 2019 served more than 51 million customers. Classified as a high-quality four-star airline by Skytrax, Air Canada also received the award for Best Airline of 2019 in North America.