alan peat GETTING READY for its January 17 take-off on the SA route, Qatar Airways has appointed Express Air Services (EAS) as its general sales agent (GSA) and cargo handling outfit. The airline is to fly a four-flights-a-week service on the run between Johannesburg/Cape Town and Doha airports – on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday, airline area manager Rashid Mordiffi told FTW. The Airbus A330-200 aircraft has a 12-ton cargo capacity, he added, translating to either eight pallets and two containers, or 26 containers. “We shall be offering our services at both Johannesburg and Cape Town,” said Bruce van Wyk of EAS, “managing both the inbound and outbound cargoes. “Bookings for Qatar Airways’ January flights are now open.” For on-going cargoes, Mordiffi added, the airline uses its home-base at Doha as a hub for scheduled flights to Europe, the Middle East, the Far East, and the Indian sub-continent - with Australia and USA due to join the list of destinations next year. “Qatar is busy developing as a trade gateway in the Gulf,” he said, “serving the Middle East, and with a full range of inter-continental connections.”
