The Italian city of Pisa today welcomed the first Qatar Airways flight to arrive at its international airport from Doha.

The Airbus A330 landed at 06:55 and was greeted by a celebratory water canon salute as well as a welcome ceremony with flags and drums from people in traditional costumes. The VIP delegation on board the flight, which included the airline’s senior vice president for Europe, Jonathan Harding, were welcomed by airport authorities representatives Marco Carrai, president of Tuscany Airports; and Gina Giani, CEO of Tuscany Airports as well as Marco Filippeschi, Mayor of Pisa.

Pisa is the fourth city in Italy to be served by Qatar Airways, which has been flying to Milan since 2002, to Rome since 2003, and to Venice since 2011. The airline already offers five daily frequencies to Italy: two to Milan and Rome and one to Venice. The new daily flight to Pisa will increase the airline’s weekly flights from Doha to Italy from 35 to 42.

In the last year, Qatar Airways has strengthened its existing Italian routes and demonstrated its commitment to the Italian market by introducing new, wide-body aircraft generating a 35 per cent increase in passenger capacity.

Qatar Airways group chief executive Akbar Al Baker said: “Pisa is an important addition to our route map, strengthening our ties with the people of Italy by offering them another opportunity to connect with more than 150 business and leisure destinations. We are equally delighted to be giving our loyal passengers from around the globe the chance to visit the beautiful city of Pisa and the surrounding region of Tuscany.”

Carrai said: "Our region continues to open up to the world thanks to the agreement with Qatar Airways and the opening of the new service between Pisa and Doha. This new route gives us the opportunity to enlarge the new network to business and leisure connections throughout Asia and Africa. This is one of the most prestigious milestones in the history of Tuscan Airports, as the benefits for our region will soon be under the eyes of all. This is an achievement that Tuscany Airports can really be proud of."

The new getaway will connect Tuscany to the Qatar Airways network, through its state-of-the-art hub in Doha, to more than 150 business and leisure destinations including Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

The A320 will also provide businesses importing and exporting goods to and from Pisa with 11 tonnes of belly-hold cargo capacity per week. - TradeArabia News Service