Qatar Airways is celebrating the first anniversary of its Beijing service by increasing frequency on the route to meet growing demand.

An extra scheduled flight is being launched between Doha, capital of the State of Qatar, and Beijing, taking capacity up from three to four non-stop flights a week.

The new service departs Doha, arriving in the Chinese capital ensuring passengers arrive in the city in time for lunch. The return flight leaves Beijing, arriving in Doha at the same day.

Since Beijing was added to Qatar Airways’ growing international network in November 2004, the route has performed exceptionally well, prompting the airline to step up capacity. The Chinese capital is part of the airline’s strategy to develop services to North East Asia where it already operates scheduled flights to Shanghai, Seoul and Osaka, together with cargo services to Macau.

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said: “We have been looking at increasing capacity on the Beijing route for some time, but due to limitations on traffic rights and availability of aircraft, we have not been able to fulfill our requirements.”

“China is fast developing as a future economic powerhouse and we, at Qatar Airways want to continue to be part of the China success story. We are not only facilitating the growth in air travel between the Middle East and China, but between many points on our global network and China.”

“By providing additional air links, we are building and strengthening already solid trade and commercial ties between Qatar and China.”

“Next year, Qatar looks forward to hosting the 15th Asian Games and with the largest contingent of participants coming from China, we at Qatar Airways will be proud to carry athletes and spectators from this wonderful country to our shores.”

As the official airline of the Games, national carrier Qatar Airways will be heavily promoting the event over the next few months and will be targeting Asia as a growth area for new routes and increased capacity on existing services in the region.

Qatar Airways already has a strong presence in the Chinese market, with thrice-weekly flights between Doha and Shanghai and a codeshare partnership with Air China. The airline is planning to increase frequency to Shanghai in the New Year.

And from March 26 next year, the Doha-based airline will launch daily scheduled flights between Doha and the former British colony of Hong Kong, now a special administrative region of China.

Hong Kong will become Qatar Airways’ 12th destination in the Far East and South East Asia that already covers Osaka, Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, Manila, Cebu, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Yangon and Jakarta.

The extra Beijing flight will be operated with an Airbus A330-200.

Qatar Airways currently operates scheduled flights from Doha to 67 destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Indian subcontinent and the Far East. Together with its codeshare partners, the airline serves more than 80 destinations worldwide. Earlier this month, the Kenyan capital Nairobi became the first of three new winter routes for the rapidly-growing airline. On December 2, the airline launches scheduled flights to the Spanish capital, Madrid, followed by new services to the German capital, Berlin, on December 15.