Beginning Aug. 1, Qatar Airways Cargo will expand its African service with a weekly flight from Doha’s Hamad International Airport to Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport, its seventh African freighter destination. The new service will use A330Fs, carrying more than 170 tonnes of perishables for import to Djibouti every week.
With a strategic geographical location, bordered by Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia, Djibouti’s commercial possibilities are growing. Two new airports are planned that are large enough to handle 100,000 tonnes of cargo, combined, on an annual basis – the Dini Ahmed International Airport, scheduled to open in 2016 and the other, the Hassan Gouled Aptidon International Airport, in 2018.
“Djibouti is an important market for Qatar Airways Cargo and for the Middle East, which benefits as a consolidation point for the African market due to its geographical location. This new route will further open up the African market to our customers who are increasingly demanding capacity to Africa, keen to maximize upon the numerous possibilities the country holds,” said Ulrich Ogiermann, Qatar Airways’ chief cargo officer.
Qatar presently serves the African cities of Lagos, Accra, Johannesburg, Entebbe, Nairobi and Khartoum with dedicated freighters. The development of Djibouti as a regional hub for commercial and logistics services is currently the focus of a significant government campaign, with Djibouti calling itself the “gateway to the horn of Africa.”