Doha hub offers access to 40 destinations

Local hubs promote healthy intra Africa trade ALAN PEAT
THROUGH ITS hub airport in Doha, the Middle East carrier Qatar Airways is able to offer the southern African region access to 40 other destinations in its global flight schedule. On the domestic front, its partnership with Express Air Services (EAS) gains the airline access to that company’s regional air network – and this has developed into a thriving business in two-way traffic with and through SA, according to EAS GM international, John Murray. “That’s mainly manufactured goods into SA and all the other African destinations we serve,” he said, “and outbound traffic of mainly flowers and other agricultural and marine perishables.” From the EAS hubs in Lusaka, Zambia and Harare in Zimbabwe, for example, these products are flown to Johannesburg International Aiport (JIA) – from where Qatar Airways flies them to its Doha base, then re-routes what is predominantly fresh vegetables to London and flowers to the huge market in Amsterdam. Fish has also become a significant player in the perishable exports carried by Qatar, with the main source being Cape Town - from where the airline flies it direct via Johannesburg to Doha. “We have also noted a demand out of Johannesburg for about 30-tons a week of crayfish, and we understand the airline is busy negotiating bi-lateral rights to introduce extra flights to meet this demand. “With the Qatar Airways Airbus aircraft,” he said, “we are getting an uplift from here of about 16-tons per flight. And, considering that Johannesburg-Doha is a medium-haul route, that’s pretty good capacity.”