Qatar Airways CEO Akbar al- Baker said the airline planned to operate double flights daily to Barcelona from its current 10 flights a week. During his visit to Barcelona, al- Baker met with the President of Catalonia, Artur Mas, and Mayor of Barcelona, Xavier Trias, to discuss new trade, business and investment opportunities. The airline had declared yesterday that it would be a strategic partner of FC Barcelona from this summer. Al-Baker said the carrier’s expansion plan for Barcelona would help improve trade and business links between Qatar and Catalonia. “Extra frequency will provide a tremendous boost to the economy of Barcelona and surrounding areas, helping create new jobs and also bring more tourists to the fabulous city,” he added. “When Qatar Airways launched flights to Barcelona in June 2010, we started with daily services using narrow-body aircraft, gradually increasing to larger planes offering twice as much capacity. We further improved capacity to the current 10-flights-a-week, which clearly shows our commitment to Barcelona and Catalonia as a whole,” the CEO asserted. Al-Baker said the airline was looking forward to working with FC Barcelona through the new strategic partnership. “This gives us even more opportunities to connect the loyal fan base of Barca in Catalonia with millions of the club’s fans around the world,” he added. The president of Catalonia and mayor of Barcelona expressed their excitement over the partnership between Qatar Airways and FC Barcelona, bringing in great benefits to the football club and Catalonia. They were also delighted to hear the airline’s plans to increase capacity to Barcelona as the new services would benefit the people of the region, helping create more jobs in the process. Qatar Airways offers travellers from Barcelona a network of destinations to fly to, including cities across the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific, through its Doha hub. In addition, it operates daily non-stop flights between Spain’s capital city, Madrid, and Doha. Gulf Times

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