Ahead of its plan to launch flights to Philadelphia and Larnaca in April, Dubai-based airline, Qatar Airways yesterday said it would expand its route network in Africa to Djibouti starting in July 27.

Bordered by Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia in the Horn of Africa region, Djibouti has an economy that is largely concentrated in the service sector, but the country has limited international air services.

According to the airline, a thrice -weekly non-stop flight will operate from its hub in Doha to Djibouti beginning from July 27. The Doha-Djibouti route will be served with an Airbus A320 which has up to 12 seats in business class and up to 132 seats in economy with flights scheduled on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

Last September, it launched thrice-weekly operations to neighbouring Ethiopia.

Djibouti is another example of Qatar Airways’ commitment to opening up access to destinations that are largely underserved by international airlines and have great market potential, the airline’s CEO Akbar Al Baker said, adding that exciting prospects abound in the Horn of Africa, which has the capacity to link up key feeder markets in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and other parts of the world.

In the wider Eastern African region, Qatar Airways presently serves Entebbe and Kigali, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro and Addis Ababa (in Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia respectively).

Qatar, which already operates across 136 destinations globally, is also planning to resume flights to Edinburgh and Istanbul Sabiha in May; Miami and Tokyo Haneda in June and Dallas/Fort Worth in July.