Qatar to add four freighter destinations in the Americas

Qatar Airways Cargo will launch twice weekly Boeing 777 freighter operations to four new destinations in the Americas, starting in early February 2017.

The freighters will fly to the South American cities of Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Quito (the latter subject to governmental approval) and Miami in the US.

They will depart from the Middle East cargo carrier’s Doha home base, via Luxembourg, its European hub, with stops at Sao Paulo in Brazil, Buenos Aires in Argentina and Quito in Ecuador.

On the return leg, the freighters will stop in Miami, Florida and Luxembourg before arriving in Doha.

These new freighter services aim to meet the growing demand for import and export trade in the region and will supplement the belly-hold cargo capacity on Qatar Airways' daily flights to Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires and Miami.

Ulrich Ogiermann, Qatar Airways’ chief officer cargo, said: “These new destinations will connect the burgeoning import and export markets in the Americas region with the rest of the world. Through our expertise in specialised solutions, namely QR Pharma for pharmaceuticals and QR Fresh for perishables, we are able to offer our customers a seamless and an unbroken cool chain for their temperature-sensitive products via our state-of-the-art fully automated hub in Doha.”

The launch of new freighter routes brings the carrier’s total freighter destinations in the Americas to 12 while offering belly-hold services to 13 cities on the continent.

Major commodities out of Sao Paulo, Bueno Aires and Quito comprise of fresh flowers, perishables and pharmaceuticals, whilst imports into South America include a wide variety of products ranging from medicines, automotive, chemical products to high tech commodities and equipment for the oil and gas industry.

Miami will serve as the airfreight distribution hub to and from the Latin American and Caribbean regions.

Qatar Airways, the world’s third largest cargo carrier, recently took delivery of its 11th B777F, taking the total fleet to 21, including eight Airbus A330Fs and two Boeing 747Fs.