Qatar Airways has commenced its first flights to the Chinese city of Hangzhou. The capital of Zhejiang province becomes the airline’s seventh route in China, and comes just three months after the launch of the sixth, Chengdu. The service will now operate four times a week, departing Doha International Airport every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 0230, and arriving at Hangzhou’s Xiaoshan International Airport at 1540. The return service will then leave at 2300, getting back into Doha at 0430 the next morning. All flights will be operated using Qatar Airways’ two-class Airbus A330 aircraft with 24 seats in business class and 236 in economy. “As a route, Hangzhou has strong potential when linked with key destinations in Europe, the Americas, Middle East and Africa; now all easily accessible via Doha through a convenient non-stop flight,” said Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways’ CEO. “China’s outbound tourism has been growing rapidly in the past decade, and we look forward to bringing more passengers from and to Hangzhou, helping to further boost leisure and business travel in China.” Following the launch, Qatar Airways now offers 45 weekly flights to seven destinations in mainland China – Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hangzhou. It also flies to Hong Kong. This makes it the biggest Middle Eastern carrier serving China. Source: Travel Daily