Qatar Airways marked its Ethiopian operations by providing uniforms and books for school-age children participating in the ‘Our Father’s Kitchen’ programme.
DOHA: Qatar Airways celebrated the launch of its new route to Ethiopia’s capital city Addis Ababa in a unique way by providing uniforms and books for school-age children participating in the ‘Our Father’s Kitchen’ programme.
‘Our Father’s Kitchen’ is a feeding programme which provides daily meals for about 216 underprivileged children in three neighbourhoods of the Addis Ababa community.
“At Qatar Airways we have a strong sense of corporate social responsibility and that is why we always endeavour to lend a helping hand to the communities we serve in,” said Akbar Al Baker, Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Airways.
“Ethiopia is one of the driving forces behind the change which is taking place in the African economy, hence opening up a new route to Addis Ababa makes a great deal of business sense,” he said.
“However, if we are going to do business here it is important to us that we become an active member of the community. Partnering with ‘Our Father’s Kitchen’ will enable us to make a difference, even if in a small way,” he added.
Home to the African Union and the second most populous country in the continent, Ethiopia is often called the political capital of Africa due to its historical, cultural and political significance.
There is a growing Ethiopian population living and working in Qatar and the Middle East.
There is also a significant diaspora of Ethiopians in the US, expecting to benefit from the new Doha–Addis Ababa service and contribute strong business and leisure traffic to Qatar Airways’ network.
With three-flights-a-week on the route, Qatar Airways offers an excellent alternative gateway with great connections via Doha to an exciting range of business and leisure destinations across North and South America, the Middle East, Europe and Asia Pacific. Popular destinations include Washington DC, New York, Houston, Chicago, Montreal, London and Dubai.
The Doha–Addis Ababa route is served with an Airbus A320 featuring up to 12 seats in Business Class and up to 132 in the Economy Class. The aircraft offers seatback TV screens providing all passengers with the next generation interactive on board entertainment system featuring a choice of more than 800 audio and video on demand options.
Qatar Airways has seen rapid growth in 16 years of operations, currently flying a modern fleet of 129 aircraft to 131 key business and leisure destinations worldwide.
Besides Addis Ababa, Qatar Airways has so far launched eight destinations this year — Gassim (Saudi Arabia), Najaf (Iraq), Phnom Penh (Cambodia), Chicago (the US), Salalah (Oman), Basra (Iraq), Sulaymaniyah (Iraq) and Chengdu (China).
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